Planting spuds - successionally?

[aquilegia]

Should I plant all my first and second earlies at once? Or should I plant them successionally so as to stagger the harvest over a number of weeks?

I assume I should plant all my maincrops at once.

[aquilegia]

[tim]

Oh, dear! We've failed again?

To the best of my belief, wait till they have good sprouts & then get them in. THEY know when they're ready. Let nature do it's own thing? = Tim

[aquilegia]

I didn't make that clear - I know it's too early now. I'm just planning because I need to do some gardening, but it's too wet, so I think instead! :D

[derbex]

I think the only 'successional' thing you do is put the 1st earlies in 1st -as ready, then the 2nd &c. Otherwise you can save a few of your earlies for an early summer planting to get Xmas new potatos.

And, of course you do 'successional' harvesting of earlies at least. Pulling them up when they're ready and you want some, rather than taking them out all at once.

Jeremy

[aquilegia]

OK thanks.

I realise now that I asked a stupid question  :-[

(there are no stupid questions, only stupid people!)

I'm just getting far too eager/impatient!

[Carrie]

I'm still waiting for my seed potatoes to arrive :'( - one thought though - if as Derbex suggests you save some of the first earlies to plan in the summer for a Christmas Crop (which I was planning on doing)  - do you have to move to a fresh bed for those and then yet another fresh bed for the next years crop or can the Christmas crop go in this years bed?

[derbex]

I don't know the 'right' answer -but last year I was going to bung them in the early bed as it would still be less than a year of spuds in the bed. That didn't work too well when I tried it last year -they got blighted I think. This year perhaps I'll try some in a container -more hassle with watering &c. -but you can bring them in if there's a frost.

Obviously if the earlies had shown any sign of disease I wouldn't have put the Xmas ones in after them.

Jeremy

[philcooper]

Aqui,

It wasn't a stupid question.

With a small number of potatoes of several varieties (bought very sensibly from an excellent Potato Day!) plant tham all at the same time as the variation between the varities will mean they are ready at slightly different times.

2nd earlies can stay in the ground after they are "ready" with no adverse effects (except that the slugs have more time to find and eat them.

If you have lots of the same variety of 1st earlies and they are the ones with a very limited shelf life in the ground (if you see what I mean), such as Rocket then plant then successionally, just as you would with any other crop that has a limited harvesting period.

That is why I prefer varieties like Duke of York, Red DoY and Accent as they do not "go off" if left in the ground but are still tasty as 1st earlies

Phil

[tim]

Aqui - I meant, of course, that I have obviously been short on clarity in my previous efforts. Must do better! = Tim

[Linda Tal]

Can I just ask, I've got some earlies out at the moment chitting, if I buy some more and keep them for a Summer sowing so that I can dig up some spuds on Xmas Day..... how should I keep the seed potatoes until it's time to plant them? Will it be OK to keep them on the shelf in the garage and how do I stop them from chitting?  And also, when in summer should I plant them?

So many questions????!!!!! ???

Thanks,  Linda.

[tim]

So far as I know, they have to be kept just above freezing to stop them sprouting!

But you don't have to use earlies - we put in some tubers from the s/market which had started to sprout (Cara) & they were fine.

[derbex]

Last year I followed the advice in the Which veg book. Just keep them chitting in the light until you're ready to plant, months later. The tubers get all wrinkled but they grew ok until the blight got them. From what I remember the advice was to plant them in pots in June or July -before putting them into their final home.

Jeremy

[Multiveg]

Tried to get a 2nd crop in a pot in the greenhouse - aphids got the plants so did a bit of forgetfulness/neglect. A fortnight ago, decided to tidy up the greenhouse (still in progress) and tipped the compost out of this pot into a border - lo and behold, some spuds - very small (size of a pea?) that amount to a tablespoons worth! They ended up in a curry.

[philcooper]

They keep, but wrinkle, in the salad container at the bottom of the fridge in a paper bag.

Aphids are a problem, both when you plant them and, much worse, on the sprouts if you try the Which continuous chitting method

Phil