A neighbour was admiring my early potatoes today and we were discussing when
to crop them, I said I would just dig down to see what was there, he made a
comment about the tops dying off to show the potatoes were ready.

Should one wait until the tops die, before trying to recover the crop?

On Jun 8, 6:42 pm, "Alan Holmes" wrote:
A neighbour was admiring my early potatoes today and we were discussing when
to crop them, I said I would just dig down to see what was there, he made a
comment about the tops dying off to show the potatoes were ready.

Should one wait until the tops die, before trying to recover the crop?

We don't Alan, we have been eating our earlies and they are lovely.

Judith

wrote:
: On Jun 8, 6:42 pm, "Alan Holmes" wrote:
:: A neighbour was admiring my early potatoes today and we were
:: discussing when to crop them, I said I would just dig down to see
:: what was there, he made a comment about the tops dying off to show
:: the potatoes were ready.
::
:: Should one wait until the tops die, before trying to recover the
:: crop?
:
: We don't Alan, we have been eating our earlies and they are lovely.

:
: Judith

They are usually bulking up when flowering (if they flower) and a rough rule
of thumb is that earlies take three months and maincrop four. No need to
wait for them to die back unless you want the maximum crop for storage

" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jun 8, 6:42 pm, "Alan Holmes" wrote:
A neighbour was admiring my early potatoes today and we were discussing
when
to crop them, I said I would just dig down to see what was there, he made
a
comment about the tops dying off to show the potatoes were ready.

Should one wait until the tops die, before trying to recover the crop?

We don't Alan, we have been eating our earlies and they are lovely.


We lifted our first yesterday and they look good. Except the one I stabbed
with the fork of course.

Steve

vestedOn Fri, 08 Jun 2007 11:15:12 -0700, "
wrote and included this (or some of
this):

On Jun 8, 6:42 pm, "Alan Holmes" wrote:
A neighbour was admiring my early potatoes today and we were discussing when
to crop them, I said I would just dig down to see what was there, he made a
comment about the tops dying off to show the potatoes were ready.

Should one wait until the tops die, before trying to recover the crop?

We don't Alan, we have been eating our earlies and they are lovely.

Judith


I harvested a potato today, from a not overly-large ceramic pot and
the top greenery was luxuriant and young.

The crop was very worthy, about 3lbs of lovely young spuds. I scraped
them off within minutes, most of the skin being pushed off by hand.
Now awaiting boiling up and adding to a weekend roast.

--
®óñ© © ²°¹°-°³

"Alan Holmes" wrote in message
...

A neighbour was admiring my early potatoes today and we were discussing
when to crop them, I said I would just dig down to see what was there, he
made a comment about the tops dying off to show the potatoes were ready.

Should one wait until the tops die, before trying to recover the crop?

Thanks for all the comments.

Will go and dig some tomorrow!

We lifted our first yesterday and they look good. Except the one I stabbed
with the fork of course.

Steve

Frustrating isn't it. No matter how carefully or how far away from the plant
you plunge the fork, sooner or later you inevitably skewer one (or lots!).

Also, why is it that no matter how carefully you sieve the soil with the
fork, there are always a few tiny potatoes escape detection to become next
years 'volunteers'. I've had to completely abandon part of my onion bed this
year - there are more volunteer potatoes than onions, so I've given in and
let the spuds reclaim the bed again this year. The onions are lost under two
feet of potato foliage now.

David.

We had our first new pots yesterday - called swift - delicious.

Alan
North of Portsmouth
"shazzbat" wrote in message
...

" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jun 8, 6:42 pm, "Alan Holmes" wrote:
A neighbour was admiring my early potatoes today and we were discussing
when
to crop them, I said I would just dig down to see what was there, he
made a
comment about the tops dying off to show the potatoes were ready.

Should one wait until the tops die, before trying to recover the crop?

We don't Alan, we have been eating our earlies and they are lovely.


We lifted our first yesterday and they look good. Except the one I stabbed
with the fork of course.

Steve