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Old 15-12-2006, 06:34 AM posted to rec.gardens.edible
John Savage John Savage is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Aug 2006
Posts: 276
Default When are potatoes ready?

"Mozie" wrote in message
...

How do you tell if potatoes are ready to dig up? I have one bush which
has started to flower, is that an indicator? Thanks


No. Flowers appear way before the potato tubers have developed any size.
You can wait until the bushes have died down and turned brown, the spuds
won't be getting any bigger after that. But there is nothing stopping
you from scratching around the base of a plant to see what size the crop
is, just take care not to damage the tiny taters. If you are in a wet
climate it would be wise to harvest your crop before the plants die down,
to make sure the spuds don't have a chance to rot in the damp ground.
If you haven't planted the seed potato real deep you will see the ground
swell and new potatoes become exposed to the sun. If this happens, cover
them with more soil or the exposed ones will turn green and be inedible.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)