As I'm fairly new to this 'lottie game....can I plant my spuds yet...the weather appears!! to be getting warmer but I'm uncertain...what if theres a frost???
Well you can get frosts up until June, so you really want to plant before then ... :D I have just planted my first earlies here in the Midlands. I will be planting my second earlies hopefully this weekend, then my maincrop over the next couple of weekends. Once the plants have broken the surface, you can hoe up to protect them, and fleece if a frost is forecast. If they get nipped by the frost, it will perhaps set them back a couple of weeks as they make new growth. There are a few other threads running dealing with potatoes, it would be worth browsing those too.
Good luck.
Quote from: gtm41658 on March 31, 2006, 09:59:32
As I'm fairly new to this 'lottie game....can I plant my spuds yet...the weather appears!! to be getting warmer but I'm uncertain...what if theres a frost???
Cover up the potatoes and hope for the best! No if you plant deeply enbough any frosts we get now shouldnt be hard enough to harm the seed tubers. What you must be carefull to protect are the emerging shoots, which are vunerable to frost.
My advice is, keep an eye on the forecast and if a frost is due make sure the shoots are well earthed up, and cover the soil with some protective material such as fleece or even a thick layer of straw/grass clippings will do. Personaly i'd keep the protection on permanently for a while yet, removing only to earth up.
Hope this helps
What I do is dig 10" deep trenches and place my seed potato at the bottom, I only cover with 4" of earth and then cover the trench with fleece, the cavity between the bottom of the trench and the fleece keeps them nice and safe from the frost, as they grow I chuck a few more inches of earth in, until eventually the ground is levelled. Then I earth up as necessary.
I've planted first earlies in Edinburgh - trenches about a spit deep - with newspaper coats. hope to do more this weekend and also second earlies. Early maincrop and maincrop (PFA) still to go in when I get the beds ready. ??? :(
Tradisional time is good friday but judging by weather forecasts I will be planting next wednesday
I hope to get my earlies in this week, if it stops raining. A little frost does'nt spell the end for spuds, you can cover the young plants with soil for a while, also if your plot does'nt get the morning sun, the frost has to be really bad to hurt them. My grandad once told me that washing the frost off with water helps, never tried it though....
I've had spuds frosted several times; it knocks them back, but they soon recover. Mine will be going in over the Easter holiday; it's going to be my first chance to get that far.
Frost? Yes - but what a huge waste of time.
Spraying? Yes - so long as it's before the sun gets onto them.
8"-10" deep? So why have we been told for 100 years 5"?? Whichever, so long as you cover them you're OK. So - get out & do it!!
All I've been doing with mine is digging a hole with a trowel, putting the spud in, covering it up and putting six inches or so of mulch on top. I do wonder whther I'd get more spuds if they went in deeper. Maybe I'll try this year.
Tim, I simply - a bit like you- wanted mine in the ground because they were ready for it. So I've planted them a bit deeper to give them a bit longer before they confont the elements.
I put my earlies in on saturday. I dug 8" deep trenches then put the spuds into the bottom of the trench about a trowel blade deep i then put on a 1" layer of compost and covered the area with fleece, without backfilling the trenches. I hope this will be protection enough. :-\
Put mine in on the w/end. Dug out deep trenches, trowle holed the bottom for each spud, covered with about 4" of earth. Looks like the trenches of the Somme but all in prep for the earthing up and shelter from the worst. Let's see what happens.
As long as the potatoes have not broke the surface then they should be fine.
I still have to dig the patch for my potatoes :( and its rain forecased the rest of the week.
But I have got 5 rows of earlies in at the house :)
Quote from: bennettsleg on April 03, 2006, 12:19:42
Put mine in on the w/end. Dug out deep trenches, trowle holed the bottom for each spud, covered with about 4" of earth. Looks like the trenches of the Somme but all in prep for the earthing up and shelter from the worst. Let's see what happens.
Bennettsleg, sorry to break the thread away slightly, but that is one amazing picture you have there... where was it taken?
Quote from: Common_Clay on April 03, 2006, 13:07:09
Bennettsleg, sorry to break the thread away slightly, but that is one amazing picture you have there... where was it taken?
Great Grandpa Tom took it when he was in the trenches at Wipers. He was in a good mood after the Xmas football match and hung on till summer before cranking out his trench-made box-brownie.
Ok, I lied...
Me and the boys donned our ski-masks, filed down the end of our sawn-offs (for the look of it, not the effect) and undertook a raid on a search engine.
Quote from: tim on April 02, 2006, 20:17:33
8"-10" deep? So why have we been told for 100 years 5"?
I'll only cover with about 4-5" of soil, then rather than earthing up I fill in more of the trench. I figure the soil will stay moister this way.