Allotments 4 All

please can anyone help me

am i to late to plant potatoes for the winter months?
or which is the best month
as a novice which is the best variety to use
many thanks in advance 

sorry!!   but you will have to wait till next spring  :-\


JTW

No you won't.  Late August is fine for planting potatoes for Christmas.  You can either do them in containers and move inside when the frosts come or do them outside and fleece them.  Second earlies which crop quickly are usually recommended.  Some of the big seed companies sell Christmas or second cropping potatoes but I'd guess they're sold out by now so you may have to resort to supermarket potatoes if you can find a named second early.

http://www.alanromans.com/c-712-second-cropping-potatoes.aspx

I should take the comment about blight seriously. I haven't tried these, but I've heard that the taste isn't brilliant. You might have a better chance though!

Mine were planted 3 weeks ago.  The leaflet from T&M that came with them said they could be planted as late as the end of August.  After that you may not get a decent crop.

they were selling them today at the nursery i went to but im sure they were first earlies, it said plant now for spuds for xmas, they were 5 for £2.50 ish i think

In addition to T&M, Fothergills are offering earlies or "Christmas potatoes", but if you're not placing an order for other stuff the cost (inc P&P) will work out at around £8-9 for 10 spuds. :( I've found more expensive retailers... ::)

I planted some rather sad and shrivelled International Kidney seed potatoes (left over from spring) into a tub last weekend; they are already up. If they produce a reasonable crop, and have an acceptable flavour, I'll simply increase my 2010 order of earlies and retain some for autumn planting.

MANY THANKS FOR THE ADVICE
AS I AM STILL LEARNING

Sholls they planted Charlottes on Beechgrove gardens a couple of weeks ago & they had saved them from the spring plantings. I was annoyed with myself as I had only thrown some away a few weeks earlier. They soaked them in water for a couple of hours before planting them. I think they could have said when they did the spring plantings ;).