i planted the mains in March
Where they were planted i laid fleece, this seems to have created a pan on top of the soil and it feels a bit solid,
Will the potatoes get through ok or do i need to loosen the soil?
I'm sure they will be fine. I planted my earlies and first of the maincrop on 20.3, and they have just started to show in the last week.
Any very slight pan that the fleece has formed will have been softened by the recent rain and will be no problem at all for the spuds to push through.
That pan will be a lot more visual than physical and is propably about 1mm thick.
At the first school I went to (about 60 years ago) :o I remember watching a mound grow in the playground in the tarmac worn smooth over years of tiny feet. Eventually this mound cracked and out of the top grew mushrooms!
If flippy floppy mushrooms can push through tarmac, your spuds will have no trouble pushing up through a bit of 'firm soil'. :D
Cheers, Tony.