Just considering ordering my seed potatoes. Never grown them before so am a little uncertain as to how many I will need?
I've an area around 8m by 8m to stick 'em in (however, I can easily add other stuff to this area should it be too large). We normally get through around six large spuds a week: either as jacket pots or chips, and maybe 9 or 10 smaller spuds boiled or roasted. We'd like to be self sufficient in spuds once they start coming up.
I can work out how many I will need to fill the space based on planting spacing but don't know what yield to expect and thus I don't want to plant too many when I could be using part of the ground for something else.
Any help appreciated!
How long is a piece of string?....
We plant @ 30kg of seed potatoes which takes up half of a 300sq yard allotment.... but have two hungry teenagers to fill.
The more care you can give them, earthing up etc the higher the yeild you can get... allowing for damage (slugs) and disease (blight) can have a bad effect. I'd go for it and fill that area, allowing for leeks etc to follow the earlies which you can get out by the start of July... Early Mains by the end of July...
:-\
I'm going to try a slightly different technique this year by digging deeper and planting near the bottom of a trench then pulling in the sides until eventually there is an earthed up mound. Also going to use a lot of potato bags.
I found that digging deeper = more initial work when planting + even more work when harvesting.
Still, its cheaper than the gym.
As for how many to plant ... see "Potato Help, Please" Nov 27, 2007 http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,37249.msg370521.html#msg370521
For what its worth, 8m*8m would only give about 12 rows, ie planting of 18-20 Kg of potatoes, expected yield in the order of 150kg (ie between 5 and 10 times planting weight)- not exactly self sufficient.
Hence I'd grow some realy tasty and different varieties, and bulk them up with shop bought ones - that way the kids will "taste the difference".
Quote from: Baaaaaaaa on December 18, 2007, 15:31:07
Hence I'd grow some realy tasty and different varieties, and bulk them up with shop bought ones - that way the kids will "taste the difference".
...and it will be easier to get them to do the double digging :D
Work on 6 potatoes to the pound.
One pound will give you a row about 6ft long or say 2metres.
Rows want to be around 18" apart say 0.5 metre.
So to take your 8m x 8m plot I would say will give you around 15 rows @ 8 metres long (Total 120m of row) = 60lb of potatoes.
Try pacing out your plot to check my maths (theory and practice don't always work)
Plus you could also try weighing half a dozen of the potatoes you buy from the supermarket to get an better idea of numbers to the pound.
Then you have to decide the proportions of Early/2nd Early and Maincrop potatoes.
I grow about 15% Earlies ( These don't store well) 35% 2nd Earlies and 50% Maincrop
I grow around half of what you are planning and these keep me going for around 9-10months of the year.
Please check my maths it is not my strong suit.
I dug mine deep last year, never again. :( :'( ;D ;D ;D
Thanks for all the info, looks like I'll try and fill the plot and any spares can go in buckets in the garden.
Quote from: cornykev on December 18, 2007, 17:57:57
I dug mine deep last year, never again. :( :'( ;D ;D ;D
Why's that Cornykev?
Bloody hard work digging them up Barnowl, and you always seem to miss some when you dig deep. Also some of my lottie chums scratched their heads and asked me why I dug them so deep, I could see their point so next year 6 inches and earth up. ;D ;D ;D
This is my way;
Soil preparation; http://tinyurl.com/2slypw
Planting; http://tinyurl.com/2ofc6z
much the same for me but I plant mine much closer both ways and i don't bother earthing up either - excellent harvests, so less is definitely more for me ;D
Thanks Corny, that makes sense - a shallow trench to start with then :)
Looking at those slides (and those harvests!) I've been planting far too deep...
Impressive and informative as always TG
;D
I plant my spuds 5" deep and row 24" apart
i like to concentrate on earlies as everyone loves a new pot..
Have a look at my site.
I planted 2 rows in each of 8x4 foot raised beds (Bonnie - 2nd Early). The total weight was over 54Kg (118lb)e from 20 tubers in effectivly a 32 foot row.
I estimate you should get 800lb minimum from your patch.
http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Vegetables_potatoes.html
I have added a how to plant guide on YouTube that you can access from the site.
Love your site AAL! You should be directing all the allotment newbies to it mate. Just brilliant. ;D
gosh I am glad I read this! I am going to order 2 packs of spuds, one mid-season, one maincrop and they have 25 spuds per pack. That makes fifty plants. My rows are 2 metres long. So I should plant, what, 10 spuds per row? allaboutliverpool said 54kg from 20 tubers?? Is that possible? that means that I will get 100kg of spuds?? sounds like plenty to me!! (I only have 100m2 plot so only devote a few sq metres to spuds).
I dug deep last year, well, can't realyl compare as they got disease so almost zero harvest, but I like that method because I only have to mulch and when it is harvest time, have to dig deep but I really turn over the soil with the mulch which leaves the bed well prepared for the next season. I put winter cabbages in the spuds plot and they did brilliantly.
Mmmm I hope that I get good spuds this year! they are one of teh best bits of home gardening, I was so disappointed to be blighted last year.
I think we made the mistake of planting too deep1 it,s very clay soil so think now that not much goodness gets as deep as we were putting them
marg