This is my 1st full year of allotmenteering (took on my plot March 07) and now my Pentland Javlin :-\ earliers are ready for havesting. I dug up a row last week end and have those stored in a thick paper sack but still have more to dig up. What is the best way to deal with these .. dig up and store or leave in the ground until needed? Any help would be gratefully received.
I leave my earlies/second earlies in the ground till they are needed, be very careful when storing earlies in sacks, when you store main crop it is recomended that you dig and leave on the surface for a day or two to harden the skins, earlies have a soft skin you can remove just by running your thumb along them so may get damaged in sacks.
This is down to personal choice, you can leave in the ground until needed however they will continue to grow and be susceptible to water damage if we continue to get rain, as happened last year, also slugs etc could cause problems. If you dig them all up and store them the skins will mature and you will loose that just picked fresh taste. You might wish to do both methods to cover all bases.
Last year I lifted all my earlies when they were ready and stored.
1st earlies: lift them asap and eat them!
2nd earlies: start by lifting enough for a meal each time; when the tops die down, lift the rest, dry them out & store them
maincrop: wait till the tops die down before you even look, then dig up the whole crop
Pink Fir Apple: don't even think about looking till November; leave till January if you can
In a nutshell!
But stressing the leave in until you need them bit for Earlies. There's less chance of slug damage with them than with Mains.
i wonder if Simone can help i planted my pots and have lost the paper i wrote the name down on they were called lady something second earlies very creamy pot checked one plant they were very delicious
could they be lady balfour, daileg ?
well its amazin when you dont know somthing and somone comes along and there it is Lady Balfour i have never in my life had anything that tasted this good
That'll teach me not to skip over someone's post - of COURSE!!
But confusing, isn't it? You said Second Earlies, whereas Balfour is variously termed Early Main or Main!