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