Is it time yet ?
A couple of people on the plot have been planting them. I normally put them in around my birthday 18th.
I'm on North Nofolk coast and it's still a little chilly at night
Adam
That's a real seat of the trousers question... (don't listen to Kev!)
I'll wait a fortnight yet but I'm in the middle (Derby) if you put them in you can always earth the tops up to protect them.. :)
I'm in the North West and I will wait till the end of the month for the 1st earlies
First earlies went in last week - mainly because of Kev and his silly challenges - but it's still a tad cold here, so the rest can wait a bit.
I'm in Swindon't and it'll be a couple of weeks before my spuds go in .... though I might stick a few earlies in some pots at home this week..... also need to find the ridging tool for my rotavator......
Not yet - March plantings last year took a hit from frost.
But i did put 3 tubers in the ground under a cloche yesterday and have a couple in tubs which I can cover when we get a frost.
looking at last years diary it was 7th April onwards, it seems folks on our plots don't start them till late. But as I've already dug my main spud bed (unlike last year!), I think I'll look at planting them out in the next couple of weeks. roll on the new spuds, broadies and peas :)
I'm waiting till the end of March. If I had put them in this weekend.... we had a deep frost here last night
I have been chitting my earlies in the shed since early feb and no tubers are coming up .
Which i find unusual,they are on a table in the light(no sun gets to them) and not one tuber......What am i doing wrong??????
Quote from: petemac on March 07, 2011, 14:32:41
I have been chitting my earlies in the shed since early feb and no tubers are coming up .
Which i find unusual,they are on a table in the light(no sun gets to them) and not one tuber......What am i doing wrong??????
What variety are they and how warm is your shed?.... potatoes are pretty much inactive below about 5 degrees centigrade as far as I was aware anyway...
i would say its too cold yet to plant
mine are in the spare room in egg boxes cool/ light conditions
and sprouting
will plant from April on :)
You'd be mad :P to plant this early
The ground is too cold and wet :'(
Still plenty of frosty mornings about :(
They are chitting nicely in the summerhouse ;D
Why would you want to put them in the cold ground ???
They'll just sit there sulking :-\
Others on our site have put there's in :o
Mine are going in Thursday. ;) :-*
Good friday is the day most people plant spuds on our site.And last year we all still got hammered buy late frosts >:(
I know Good Friday is traditional but it is a weird way to plan as Easter varies by about a month from earliest to latest dates! I haven't planted mine yet, they are chitting in the greenhouse. We had a very hard frost yesterday and another forecast for tonight.
Mid March is normaly the time to plant but you have to take into account what part of the country you live in, the further North you are the later you will be putting them in. I am in the North East so i can be as much as much a month behind the South.
Plant your spud now but they will only stay dormant untill the soil warms up also remember the coldest soil is at the top so you will be putting the coldest soil onto the potato when you back fill
If we get some heavy rain and you have poor drainage they may rot before they get the chance to grow.
No matter what you choose you will still be eating them while i am waiting for them to grow (swearword)
Davy
I checked my diary from last year and I put them in on 16/03/10
We've had a a light frost for the last few days here
I checked and we had The late frost last year on 10/05/10
It put most peeps spuds back a few weeks+ with the tops being burnt
:'(
-6 here this morning ,will be at least a couple more weeks before I will put mine in .the ground is to cold yet and no advanced.rage will be gained by planting now . As Kev said we had some late frosts last year....potatoes and frost do not mix
Tony says that his father always planted on St. Patricks day and pulled them on July4th. We usually have a firkle befor then ;D
I shall hold fire a little. It was -5 here last night.
I hope the ones that some people on our plot have put in survive.
Am I right in thinking that you plant maincrop a little later than first and second earlies ?
Quote from: BoardStupid on March 08, 2011, 14:07:42
I shall hold fire a little. It was -5 here last night.
I hope the ones that some people on our plot have put in survive.
Am I right in thinking that you plant maincrop a little later than first and second earlies ?
Bit of a fallacy with the naming.... Early potatoes start tuberising younger than maincrops, therefore if planted together then there is a crop of sorts on the earlies first. That's sort of how it started, these days the uber first earlies like Rocket have been bred for earliness whereas maincrops are bred for ultimate crop weight, disease resistance etc..... All potatoes can go in together, if it's warm enough for earlies then it's warm enough for mains, the reason some folks go in really early with some first earlies is to try and get spuds for salads in June (easy to get radishes and salad leaves then) which can then be followed with either leeks or winter brassicas....
My advice is all spuds in the flat together but stick a few first earlies in pots a couple of weeks sooner and bring them in at night....
chrisc
Speaking with my father the other day and he said. Now please don't quote me on this.
That Good Friday was the traditional day for planting spuds as in days gone by when most of us would
be labourers and workers, Good Friday would be the first day off we had in the year so took advantage of
this time to plant spuds
Anyways, couple more weeks to go for me as still frosts here last night
I shall put a line off Rocket in Tomorrow and stagger them every few weeks or so, with the maincrop going in next month. ;D ;D ;D