Another advance planning question from me.
How early could I plant early potatoes outside? Obviously I'd need some kind of protection - fleece or a cloche. I'm thinking a variety like swift or rocket, so I could get a really early spud harvest.
If both fleece and a cloche are an option, which would be best?
I did grow some spuds this year, but in pots on the balcony, so I have no experience of outdoor growing.
OOO just read about this yesterday in an old issue of Organic gardening magazine - said something about harvesting in May... Probably need a little warmth in the soil, cloches, perhaps straw if weather is really cold... 2 articles!
Found it in issue from February 1996. Method 1) Plant tubers 6 inches deep - use a bulb planter... as soon as shoots appear, cover with straw/soil/compost. Keep doing this until you have a ridge 30cm (foot?) high. If frost beckons, use straw/newspaper... In this article, no mention of cloches, though suppose you could use them.
Method 2) On a mild day in Feb, lay down a ridge of compost about 30cm wide and 20cm deep, cover with black polythene which is weighted down at the edges, with crosses cut in to plant the potatoes through. Push each seed potato through the compost layer so it rests on the soil surface (20cm deep?).
Cloche using 2 layers of clear polythene, the lower one should be bubble insulation. Cloche should be almost completely closed until the plants appear. Open ends fully (hope that you don't have a wind tunnel!) unless heavy frost beckons.
I plant at the end of the third week in February - using Rocket.
Fleece is undoubtedly the best option - lay it over the bed a fortnight before planting to help warm up the soil a little.
Plant in trenches (I make my trenches 9inches deep), banking the soil up on either side and only cover the seed tubers with an inch or so with soil, then cover with a DOUBLE layer of fleece anchored on the outer edges of the soil banking so that it is kept above the level of the trench (you don`t want frozen wet fleece touching the tips of the emerging shoots). Keep the fleece on (except for earthing up operations) until the plants are simply too big to cover - you can always drape it loosely over the plant tops again if you get a frost warning.
Would black plastic warm things more quickly?? = Tim
Didn't GQT do a trial this year with fleece, black and clear plastics - clear plastic was better? But maybe we didn't have a "typical" winter/spring....
Tim, black plastic would undoubtedly work more quickly in warming up the soil, but no use for growing the potatoes under, and I can`t be bothered doing the job twice as I`m going to finish up using fleece anyway.
Multiveg, I`ve no knowledge of the GQTtest, although I always view their `one off` tests with some suspicion, but I have tried both clear plastic and fleece extensively side by side over several years. Indeed, before fleece came along there were only polythene and glass cloches. In all the years I`ve beein using it fleece wins by a long neck. Quite apart from which polythene sheeting, unless supported in some way (hoops, wires etc) will sag down onto the plants, and because it is solid sheeting any condensation forming under it on a warmish day will form droplets on the underside, and a following hard frost will then freeze these droplets. If the plastic happens to be in contact with the plants that`s your shoot tips gone for a burton. Fleece, consisting of separate fibres, does not sag badly under a shower of rain but allows it to go through, does not accumulate condensation on its underside, and even when it is in contact with the plants they are far less likely to be damaged by frost -I`ve not had a frosted potato plant yet under fleece, but I have under polythene. Furthermore, it provides far better insulation under frosty conditions - particularly if used double.
Hugh - wholly agree! Just surmising. = Tim
Thanks Hugh and Multi, both those methods sound great.
I think the fleece option sounds the most low-maintenance, I will be growing on an allotment, and won't be able to get down there every day.
I'm glad to know that I had the right idea of using rocket. :)
One point to bear in mind, Moggle. Obviously you will only dig your first earlies as you need them, but with Rocket, although it is excellent as a very first early, the tubers will quickly bulk up in the ground and can become large and coarse well before the second earlies are ready. I don`t know how many earlies you intend to plant or how many people you intend to feed with them, but I would only plant sufficient Rocket for (say) 3 or 4 weeks supply and use a slightly slower growing early such as Accent for the remainder of your early crop.
Hugh, thanks for that tip. I am growing for me and hubby, but we love our spuds.
I was also planning on growing international kidney, charlotte (grew them in pots this year and they went well), and picasso (after seeing Tims photos of his picasso)
I will certainly grow Picasso again. Delicious, but a word of warning:
1. I have big hands, but I find them a challenge to hold whilst peeling.
2. They are mostly too big to serve whole as bakers.
Marshalls still haven't answered me as to whether this is the norm. They call them 'uniform bakers'. Up north maybe?? = Tim
tim, you forgot to mention that they (Picasso) are very prone to slug damage.
Tim, is it not possible to dig em up before they get that big? I'd want some bakers, but a bit of mash, or some rosties won't go astray.
But considering Hugh's comment, should I consider another variety. :-\
And also, is international Kidney a first early, second early, or early maincrop? I think I've seen it listed as all 3! Would it grow okay as a first early?
Technically International Kidney (a.k.a Jersey Royal, but only when grown in Jersey) is a second early, which means that it is daylength neutral and will crop when the plant is ready. Precisely when it will crop therefore depends on when the seed tubers are planted. The true early maincrops are daylength sensitive and however early they are planted they will only crop when daylength has declined sufficiently to provoke the production of tubers, which in this country is towards the end of July. However, many varieties of second earlies (such as Nadine, Celine, Kondor etc.-although I`m not sure about International Kidney) will keep as well as the maincrops and can be grown as a substitute for early maincrops