Was reading a thread on harvesting potatoes (think it was in here), and
someone was saying "since it was now flowering, will harvest in a couple
of months". We want to harvest, re-plant, and harvest again at
Christmas however our (well his)[1] potato plants have not even flowered
yet[2]. Does the panel think we can still have new potatoes at Christmas
or will it be a shop bought job? We are sort of in Edinburgh but higher
up (Balerno)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balerno



[1] Son has an interest (understatement) in gardening, but because of
his needs (lots of attention, special school all that) Daddy and Mummy
have to do a lot of the planning/thinking for him, so although we say
'we' planted them they are really 'his' potatoes

[2] Photo of plants showing lots of foliage, but no flowers as yet
(though there are 'buds').
http://www.sidtech.co.uk/iu/soup974024427063.jpg

In message , soup
writes
Was reading a thread on harvesting potatoes (think it was in here), and
someone was saying "since it was now flowering, will harvest in a couple
of months". We want to harvest, re-plant, and harvest again at
Christmas however our (well his)[1] potato plants have not even flowered
yet[2]. Does the panel think we can still have new potatoes at Christmas
or will it be a shop bought job? We are sort of in Edinburgh but higher
up (Balerno)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balerno



[1] Son has an interest (understatement) in gardening, but because of
his needs (lots of attention, special school all that) Daddy and Mummy
have to do a lot of the planning/thinking for him, so although we say
'we' planted them they are really 'his' potatoes

[2] Photo of plants showing lots of foliage, but no flowers as yet
(though there are 'buds').
http://www.sidtech.co.uk/iu/soup974024427063.jpg

I'm no expert but they look OK to me. Lovely pic. I have only had one
flower so far but am optimistic. There are several people here who are
very knowledgeable and have been extremely helpful with advice..
--
June Hughes

On Jul 1, 10:57*am, soup wrote:

Does the panel think we can still have new potatoes at Christmas
or will it be a shop bought job? *

It's still six months to Christmas, plenty of time to grow a few
spuds.

I remember dear old Percy Thrower saying that when he first started as
a junior gardener at a large estate, the procedure was, when
harvesting new potatoes, to leave a few on the surface to go green and
then replant them to provide the small new ones for Christmas Day. If
it was good enough for Percy....

On 2009-07-01 11:19:41 +0100, moghouse said:

On Jul 1, 10:57*am, soup wrote:

Does the panel think we can still have new potatoes at Christmas
or will it be a shop bought job? *

It's still six months to Christmas, plenty of time to grow a few
spuds.

I remember dear old Percy Thrower saying that when he first started as
a junior gardener at a large estate, the procedure was, when
harvesting new potatoes, to leave a few on the surface to go green and
then replant them to provide the small new ones for Christmas Day. If
it was good enough for Percy....

The other old country way was to harvest the potatoes, put them in a
cake tin and seal it with sticky tape. Then dig a hole and bury the
tin. Dig it up again at Christmas and - in theory - you should have
lovely fresh potatoes! That's something a youngster might enjoy doing
anyway, just as an experiment.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon

On 1 July, 10:57, soup wrote:
* Was reading a thread on harvesting potatoes (think it was in here), and
someone was saying "since it was now flowering, will harvest in a couple
of months". *We want to harvest, re-plant, and harvest again at
Christmas however our (well his)[1] potato plants have not even flowered
yet[2]. *Does the panel think we can still have new potatoes at Christmas
or will it be a shop bought job? *We are sort of in Edinburgh but higher
up (Balerno)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balerno

*[1] *Son has an interest (understatement) in gardening, but because of
his needs (lots of attention, special school all that) Daddy and Mummy
have to do a lot of the planning/thinking for him, so although we say
'we' planted them they are really 'his' potatoes

[2] Photo of plants showing lots of foliage, but no flowers as yet
(though there are 'buds').http://www.sidtech.co.uk/iu/soup974024427063.jpg

No you dont have to wait for them to flower. I grew spuds here in Fife
for a couple of years in my mums back garden without any problem. I
simply stuck Maris Piper spuds in the compost and left them. The time
to harvest is when the shaws start to wilt and *die*.

....and you can't beat fresh spuds for taste - no matter HOW much the
supermarkets tell you that their produce is fresh, it comes nowhere
NEAR as your own spuds for taste. The ones in your photo aren't too
far away but I'd give them another couple of months yet.

McKevvy