Cast your mind back to mid March and pre lockdown. We knew Coronavirus was about to impact the way we would all be living, but we didn't know how...
In the scheme of what has happened since, ''what to do with your potatoes'' is not up there as one of the great questions to resolve.
But it was nevertherless one I had to consider at the time, as the risk of potentially being forced to self isolate / hunker down at home would have meant 40 odd seed potates chitting in a garage with no prospect of being put in the ground anytime soon.
The reason this was a question is that mid March is probably a bit soon to put potatoes in the ground, but I decided to get them in anyway, just in case the government forced us all to stay indoors for an unknown length of time.
As it happened, I was not restricted and could continue attending the plot every week, but the spuds were now in and growing away, whatever. The issue with putting potatoes in the ground too soon is that they will be above ground in April and still at risk in the event of a late frost...which duly arrived even later than usual in early May.
They didn't look great then, but they weren't struck a mortal blow so were soon back up and growing away again a couple of weeks later.
You may also remember that I am trialling ptatoes in growing sacks in my garden too. These I could protect more easily from the frosts but there didn't seem a lot of room for compost, but I thought I'd give them a try anyway, especially as we had some leftovers that had no room to be planted at the plot. More on these later.
Well, 2 months further on, probably a bit later than usual (because of the frost setback), I have now started harvesting...
Now this blog is not particularly aimed at seasoned veteran veg growers, but more at the inexperienced amateur keen just to learn some basics. Or, to be reassured that the things that are going wrong for them are also going wrong for someone else! So apologies, if these next few paragraphs are a bit basic, but I do know of some people who have never seen potatoes being harvested and don't know where they come from! So here's my very simple 5 step guide to what makes a (more) successful potato harvest.
In a nutshell you;
prepare the ground a good 6 months earlier by adding a layer (a good 6 inches if you can) of well rotted horse manure or compost. This will be dragged into the soil over winter by that gardener's friend, the earthworm and make your growing area more workable.
plant (in April) 3 types of spud, First Earlies, Second Earlies and Maincrop.
hoe them up as the green foliage starts to appear and keep covering them as long as you can as the potatoes will form underground and the more they are covered, the more potential for potatoes you have (and also any potatoes that are exposed to light when growing will turn green and become inedible).
keep them well watered, especially in the early weeks
harvest them when the flowers (which appear after about 10-12 weeks for earlies and 14-16 weeks for maincrop) start to die back - that is a sign that the potatoes below ground are ready to be harvested.
As I mentioned last week you can dig them all up at once and store them in a cool place at home or you can leave them in the ground to see if they grow a bit more.
Now the problem with the latter, is that whilst still in the ground potatoes are susceptible to continued attack from the underground army of pests and hungry insects. I said last week I was going to keep mine in the ground as long as I can. Well I might change my mind on this as the harvest so far has been quite mixed - some plants giving me a very good return and some looking like everyone else has helped themselves first.
So, yes I want people to know that good healthy top growth does not guarantee a similar performance below ground. It is normal to have at least some plant failures within any typical row.
Anyway here is a video of my potato cropping this year.
All my plants have also had to contend with the added strangulation attacks of the virilant bindweed in my soil, but hopefully you will get the gist of how you harvest. Fork around the plant but try and avoid putting your fork through too many potatoes by digging up too close to the plant. Lift the haulm (that's the green bit) out of the ground and in the roots you should be able to pick off your crop. You will also find some escape and remain in the ground. Dig around to find these as any left in the ground will grow plants next year (but the fruits will be quite bitter tasting and you don't want to be harvesting those).
I've also emptied my first (of 4) potato sacks. I got a meal's worth from one sack so to be honest the jury is still out on whether it's worth it and I will use those again next year. I do have 4 more sacks to empty though before I decide for definite, and I have also put one potato in a large flower pot and to be honest that is performing much better. I'll keep you posted though as I harvest more.
The thing is, even if you only get a few successful plants its probably worth it. I don't think you can beat the taste of home grown new potatoes and even if you don't get a bumper number from each plant (more than 10 potatoes per plant and I think you are doing well), just potatoes being in the soil should break it up a bit and make it more workable for next year's rotation (for me, usually brassicas will follow spuds).
So there you go, my take on the humble potato and how I'm doing this year. Let's hope you are doing just as well.
Until next time...
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