Allotments 4 All

This is what you were talking about, Svea - I lost it.

Showing the younger ones catching up.

My bucket and washbasket spuds haven't broke surface yet (planted outdoors)
I'm on tenterhooks  :)

One thing I'm loving is the foliage. Whatever else may, or may not happen.

Very tropical Tim but then I think they do hail from much warmer climes don't they  :)

So true!

Wardy,

Potatoes hail, like Paddington, from darkest, or rather highest, Peru - not the warm bit



not a greenhouse in sight!!

Phil

Oh yes, of course - Titicaca & all that!

No greenhouses? Maybe they just have better sunshine there?

Nice picture, Phil.

" Maximal tuber formation occurs at soil temperatures between 60° and 70°F. The tubers fail to form when the soil temperature reaches 80°F."

This is a quote from

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/veggies/potato1.html

I must remember to turn off the heating cable in the allotment - or turn it up and harvest ready cooked new potatoes  ;)

So how tall should the haulms be before we harvest earlies grown in tubs/buckets???

The hieght of the haulms is not a reliable indicator, varietites vary and the amount of light, nitrogen in the compost etc etc effect the height.

With bucket spuds the normal answer for 1st earlies is, try it. Just scrape away a bit of the compost and see how they are doing

phil

Thanks Phil. I am far too impatient for the first jerseys....!!!!

If you had told me a height I would have been out there with a tape measure.

Tim - is it just the photo or are the leaves slightly blue? Gorgeous!

Here's mine (finally remembered to take a pic for this thread)



Bit smaller than Tim's - was in the process of hoicking them back inside before last night's frost.

The large one is Rocket, the smaller Mimi. There's 3 tubers per pot (not including the Marco garlic I stuck in the Mimi  - was on the way back from the shed with a few bulbs, and found one sprouting - so they went in the nearest place and have taken off :)  !)

moonbells

wsl - time, not height. Mine went in 3/2, so I will check at the end of this month.

Aqui - the earlier picture is the truer.

How about that, then??

Flower buds on the later planted ones!!

When they have flowered is that not when to harvest?

Sorry I am  still a novice?

Are we talking about a. any potato or just b. under glass?
Whichever - no!

If a. Earlies can often be harvested before the flowers.
If b. Mains are normally left till the haulms die down.

Talking to one of the more experienced gardeners on the allotments today and he advised me to remove all the flowers from the potatoes, anyone else do this?

Take 1. Quote - "Trisha, the presence or absence of flowers on potato plants has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on size, number, or quality of tubers! In fact, some oldtimers would often remove all flowers in hopes of getting even larger tubers."

Take 2. It has been thought that, if the flowers produce (poisonous) berries, children may eat them.

Take 3. You have the time to harvest the flowers as well??