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Old 17-08-2010, 07:45 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening
harry harry is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jun 2010
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Default Potatoes - how deep to dig?

On 16 Aug, 15:45, "David WE Roberts"
wrote:
There has been a lot of good information on when to lift potatoes.
However there isn't as much around on how to lift them.
Specifically, how deep to dig.

Do the new potatoes grow only at the same level or above that of the seed
potato or do they also grow significantly lower?
Given that we dug a trench, planted the seed potatoes in the trench, eathed
up level and then earthed up again to a slope the original planting level
must be around the same depth as the trench created by the earthing up.

So do we have to go much deeper than that?
We've lifted a few (not a major yield but we are mainly growing them to work
the allotment over) and I was wondering if we had dug deep enough or if we
might have missed some.

It is quite difficult to dig deep in light friable soil without moving the
soil away from the area.

Cheers

Dave R

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")


It varies with the variety. On some the potatos appear close to the
stem, on some they grow all over and quite deep. But not more than
nine or ten inches.
But one thing's guaranteed. You will miss a couple and they will
appear unexpectedly next year in an inconvenient place.