PtePike wrote:
"Ian B" wrote in
:

As an experiment I am growing some spuds in a bed. You will all be
horrified to know that they came from Sainsburys, not certified seed
stock. The justification for this is that

(a) nobody anywhere nearby is growing potatoes, or veg of any kind,
except Victor, and I'm pretty certain his all come from Sainsburys as
well, and he's not right next door and

(b) it just so happened I had some sprout in the kitchen, and so for
fun I thought I'd see if they would chit properly, and they did, so I
planted them and

(c) They all said on the bags they're from Scotland, which is where
the seed potatoes come from so I'm told.

There are half a dozen Nicola, and I think the others are
Carlingford; I knew this certainly for weeks then suddenly got a
mental block about what they are, but I think they're Carlingford.
Anyway, they are all sort of early I think. That is, Sainsburys sell
them in bags of teeny new potatoes, which is how I got them in the
first place.

So I'll be thrilled if I get anything edible at all out of the potato
patch, and if they all die of the blight I've lost nothing.

So anyway, I didn't get proper ones so they didn't come with
instructions, and the advice on earthing up seems to vary from place
to place on the web. Some sites tell you to bury the things as soon
as they come up apparently, and others say to wait until they're 8
inches tall then earth up, and that's what I remember doing when me
and my ex, well my ex really, I just did what I was told, you know,
grew some Pentland Somethings some years ago.

Currently they've just broken through, they're about an inch or two
high. I'm inclined to leave them until they're quite big then start
piling up the earth around them. Is this correct? Or should I bury
the poor blighters now?


Ian



Hello Ian
I am not horrified, when I was a child we always saved potatoes to sow
the next year, and what a crop we always got.
We do it now, but not supermarket bought.
If you get a nice crop from your Sainsburys ones and you dont get any
blight, keep a few in a cool place to sow next year.
Earth up only your main crop because they will be in the ground for a
longer period to grow bigger tubers.



Thanks, I'm hoping for some kind of a result but I hope I won't be
disappointed if they fizzle.


Ian