Spuds

[Ian White]

Hi all

i have some first early spuds and some second early spuds,what with the poor weather i have not had a chance to plant them,have i missed out and is it too late now ?

Thanks,Ian

[Ian White]

[staris]

nope you haven't missed out there is still plenty time to plant ,I've just planted mine today and I'm the first on my allotment site ,the weather is set to change this weekend so now is a good time to plant :)

[Flighty]

Not at all, I only planted my first and some second earlies this week.  The rest of the second earlies, and the main crop ones, will follow over the next week or two.

[gavinjconway]

Ian we are all in the same boat this year.. I have only just planted out 2 wheelie bins at home of earlies and will rotavate my pre-dug plot on Sunday to loosen and fluff up the soil and hopefully plant all my spuds. I bought far to many hence the wheelie bins as containers at home and I'll also do 4 at the plot.. I put 6-8 tubers in each and hopefully will get t good crop.

Remember if you do this yo need to get pvc pipes with holes drilled in placed in the bin alongside the plants to get water to the bottom..

[irridium]

mine are going out this w/e; normally they would have gone in on Good Friday but as I was busy then, this w/e is my last chance with my earlies.

[green lily]

We're all going for it this weekend. I think earlies and mains will all go in at the same time while the sun is shining. Mind you we must be the only place in the country that is still bone dry and everything has to be puddled in and even basics like garlic are stressed out and need watering....

[Gordonmull]

We're the same here Green Lily. It does mean I've actually achieved a fine tilth on my clay soil though, so I'm not being too ungrateful.

[irridium]

think it's forecasted for rain at my end tonight at some point, hopefully (tho' not too prolonged!) i planted a load of new ornamentals in the past couple of weeks, so am keen for them to be soaked through and with the spuds for this w/e. i think i'll put the broadies and mangetout in as well.

[Old Ace]

Got some Arran Pilots in this week, my main problem seems to be chitting, or lack of it. Had my seed tubers since Feb, International Kidney have not chitted at all, Pentland J have hardly any neither have Desiree & Valour, dont know whether to chance it & plant or leave it another few weeks

[chriscross1966]

Earlies aren't called earlies cos they go in early, but becasue the crop early... except for exotic long season varieties getting a head start or some attempts to get ultra-early crops using pots in greenhouses, all spuds go in together adn get harvested in crop order.... at least that's the theory.... I'm hoping to get mine in this weekend, hopefully under power with the rotavator it should only take a couple of hours to stick them in and ridge them over....

[GREGME]

you'll be fine - the soil has been too cold- accidentally dug up an early red duke of york I planted 4 weeks ago today and it hadn't sprouted much more at all. Soil needs to warm up I think no rush

[chriscross1966]

last week whilst digging I found a couple of spuds I'd missed last year, there was no sign of chitting... amazed they survived the blight adn the slugs... delicious (hardly surprising, Fortyfold is nice)

[kt.]

Put all my spuds in last weekend.  Winston (1st early),  Charlotte (Salad),  Kestrel (late 2nd early)