Potatoes

[brown thumb]

when is the correct time to dig your potatoes   ?  As i keep hearing convicting advice  ,one gardening mag said too start watering when you see the flowers some else said their ready at the flowering stage  someone else to wait until the leaves die down

[brown thumb]

[RenishawPhil]

Just try them when you like. I did:)

[brown thumb]

Here i come new spuds at the weekend   yum yum

[pumkinlover]

Start with the earlies when they start to flower .it is main crop which can be left till they die down.

[Flighty]

Which variety are they?  First earlies are generally ready to lift around 13 weeks after planting and main crop ones about 22 weeks.  They only really need watering during dry spells.

[antipodes]

I usually plant the earlies first, then the second earlies then the late ones, with a week or two between each. This way, by the time we have worked our way through the earlies, the seconds are perfectly ready. Then I get the late ones out at the end of the season. I know now that the earlies start going in the last week in Feb and I can start harvesting sometime between the last week in May and the 10th of June. I am in general about 10-14 days ahead of UK planting times...
The earlies, I will gently scrape the earth away from the plant, pick out the biggest spuds and put the soil back. Once we hit end June I start to dig up the whole plants to clear the patch for winter crops.

Earlies often don't flower. And I can't remember the last time i actually watered spuds!