Early Potatoes
 

Can people say what their favourite earlies and second earlies are and
when they plant them please.

(I will be growing in containers if it makes any difference.)

Early Potatoes
 

"Judith" wrote ...

Can people say what their favourite earlies and second earlies are and
when they plant them please.

(I will be growing in containers if it makes any difference.)

The problem is that potatoes seem to grow differently depending on soil
type, for example King Edwards grow well on sandy soil but hate clay,
International Kidney taste fantastic if grown with seaweed manure but quite
different grown in normal soil. So someone's recommendation can only ever be
a pointer from which to experiment yourself.
Earlies we are still experimenting with to find ones we like that grow well
on our soil, this year we are trying Bell de Fontenay and Charlotte just to
see, so no recommendation.
Second early, we only grow Kestrel.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

Early Potatoes
 

On Sun, 23 Jan 2011 23:31:21 -0000, Bob Hobden wrote:

Earlies we are still experimenting with to find ones we like that grow well
on our soil, this year we are trying Bell de Fontenay and Charlotte just to
see, so no recommendation.

We've grown Charlotte for a couple of years now - love them :-)
--
Regards,

Hugh Jampton

Early Potatoes
 

"Hugh Jampton" wrote ..

Bob Hobden wrote:

Earlies we are still experimenting with to find ones we like that grow
well
on our soil, this year we are trying Bell de Fontenay and Charlotte just
to
see, so no recommendation.

We've grown Charlotte for a couple of years now - love them :-)


What sort of soil Hugh? Ours is acid Thames silt/clay.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

Early Potatoes
 

Judith wrote in
:



Can people say what their favourite earlies and second earlies are and
when they plant them please.

(I will be growing in containers if it makes any difference.)


Hello Judith,
I grow Arran Pilot and Pentland Javelin, both first earlies.
Pentland Javelin I have found double up as second earlies and go well into
September, even later if I planted enough of them I think. When young are
lovely as any other, when they get older are large and high yielding.
Arran Pilot are by far the best tasting I have ever eaten and can be lifted
in June though small,(can't resist scratting around) and obviously get
bigger as the season goes on.

I plant them all in late March here in North Lincolnshire.

Good luck
Baz

Early Potatoes
 

Sacha wrote in :


We're plantiing International Kidney - nearest we can get to Jersey
Royals.

Sacha,
Next time you visit Jersey nick a bit of soil eh?
Joking aside, will there be a difference? Apart from a week.(where you are)

We love it here when Jersey Royals are in the shops, expensive so, and buy
a few. It is truly a lifting time.(no pun).
We know then that it's only a few weeks when all over the garden we will
also get a bit of growth and the birds will be looking for something to
make a nest of. Magic.
Thats how it is with us, sad or not.

Baz

Early Potatoes
 

In message , Sacha
writes
On 2011-01-24 15:27:56 +0000, Baz said:

Sacha wrote in :

We're plantiing International Kidney - nearest we can get to Jersey
Royals.
Sacha,
Next time you visit Jersey nick a bit of soil eh?
Joking aside, will there be a difference? Apart from a week.(where you are)


Apologies for digression/interrupting this dialogue however while still
on the subject of first early potatoes I seem to recall that a few
months ago Rusty posted something about multi-layer planting of first
earlies which could be applicable in my veg plot.

Senior Management recently bought 6 large plastic waste bins (black in
colour with rocking tops) at one of the supermarkets, for 50p each. She
presented them to me indicating that perhaps I could use them for
growing first earlies. They are c. 3 ft high (the type that are found in
offices, canteens etc.) and could be good for this purpose. All they
need is some drainage holes - easily enough drilled.

However, I appear not to have retained Rusty's post in which he/she
described multi-layer planting as a practical way of using a container
to maximum benefit. I assume that all planting is done at once with,
say, 3 seed potatoes planted c. 1 ft from the bottom, followed by
successive layers (say up to total 3) planted at 9 inch intervals. If
Rusty (or anyone else) would care to comment on the above I'd be hugely
grateful. It sounds an interesting way of maximising production while
using minimal space and I need to use these bins for something other
than prize parsnips or carrots :-))
--
Gopher .... I know my place!

Early Potatoes
 

On Sun, 23 Jan 2011 19:13:57 +0000, Judith
wrote:



Can people say what their favourite earlies and second earlies are and
when they plant them please.

(I will be growing in containers if it makes any difference.)



Many thanks to all responses - just the discussion I was hoping for.

Early Potatoes
 

Gopher wrote in
:

In message , Sacha
writes
On 2011-01-24 15:27:56 +0000, Baz said:

Sacha wrote in
:

We're plantiing International Kidney - nearest we can get to
Jersey
Royals.
Sacha,
Next time you visit Jersey nick a bit of soil eh?
Joking aside, will there be a difference? Apart from a week.(where
you are)


Apologies for digression/interrupting this dialogue however while
still on the subject of first early potatoes I seem to recall that a
few months ago Rusty posted something about multi-layer planting of
first earlies which could be applicable in my veg plot.

Senior Management recently bought 6 large plastic waste bins (black in
colour with rocking tops) at one of the supermarkets, for 50p each.
She presented them to me indicating that perhaps I could use them for
growing first earlies. They are c. 3 ft high (the type that are found
in offices, canteens etc.) and could be good for this purpose. All
they need is some drainage holes - easily enough drilled.

However, I appear not to have retained Rusty's post in which he/she
described multi-layer planting as a practical way of using a container
to maximum benefit. I assume that all planting is done at once with,
say, 3 seed potatoes planted c. 1 ft from the bottom, followed by
successive layers (say up to total 3) planted at 9 inch intervals. If
Rusty (or anyone else) would care to comment on the above I'd be
hugely grateful. It sounds an interesting way of maximising production
while using minimal space and I need to use these bins for something
other than prize parsnips or carrots :-))

Gopher, I read somewhere, (it might be Rusty's post but can't remember)
you plant a few seed potatoes on top of 12" of compost in the bottom of
the container and when they grow to 4-6" put more compost on top of them
to cover them up and plant a few more. Continue this until you are a few
inches from the top of the container and water regularly.

OR as above but only plant the bottom few seed potatoes and keep adding
compost as you see the foliage peeping through. Similar I think to
earthing them up in the traditional way but much deeper because the
container is in your case 3'. The idea here I think is that as the haulms
grow and are covered they make more 'shoots' to produce more spuds.

Hope you can understand my explaination, it's never been one of my good
points.

Baz

Early Potatoes
 

In message , Baz
writes
Gopher wrote in
:

Apologies for digression/interrupting this dialogue however while
still on the subject of first early potatoes I seem to recall that a
few months ago Rusty posted something about multi-layer planting of
first earlies which could be applicable in my veg plot.

Senior Management recently bought 6 large plastic waste bins (black in
colour with rocking tops) at one of the supermarkets, for 50p each.
She presented them to me indicating that perhaps I could use them for
growing first earlies. They are c. 3 ft high (the type that are found
in offices, canteens etc.) and could be good for this purpose. All
they need is some drainage holes - easily enough drilled.

However, I appear not to have retained Rusty's post in which he/she
described multi-layer planting as a practical way of using a container
to maximum benefit. I assume that all planting is done at once with,
say, 3 seed potatoes planted c. 1 ft from the bottom, followed by
successive layers (say up to total 3) planted at 9 inch intervals. If
Rusty (or anyone else) would care to comment on the above I'd be
hugely grateful. It sounds an interesting way of maximising production
while using minimal space and I need to use these bins for something
other than prize parsnips or carrots :-))

Gopher, I read somewhere, (it might be Rusty's post but can't remember)
you plant a few seed potatoes on top of 12" of compost in the bottom of
the container and when they grow to 4-6" put more compost on top of them
to cover them up and plant a few more. Continue this until you are a few
inches from the top of the container and water regularly.

OR as above but only plant the bottom few seed potatoes and keep adding
compost as you see the foliage peeping through. Similar I think to
earthing them up in the traditional way but much deeper because the
container is in your case 3'. The idea here I think is that as the haulms
grow and are covered they make more 'shoots' to produce more spuds.

Hope you can understand my explaination, it's never been one of my good
points.

Baz

Thank you Baz .... that's more or less as I recall it so, although I
think Rusty's method was the first you mention, the second makes sense
too; therefore, I think I'll try both to see what happens. And keep up
your explanations.... this one is perfectly understandable:-))
Thanks again.
--
Gopher .... I know my place!

Early Potatoes
 

Gopher wrote in :


Thank you Baz .... that's more or less as I recall it so, although I
think Rusty's method was the first you mention, the second makes sense
too; therefore, I think I'll try both to see what happens. And keep up
your explanations.... this one is perfectly understandable:-))
Thanks again.

Will you let us know how you get on when it's time to pick and eat?
Or dig and eat as in your case. Not long now till we can do it and be
outside without freezing our b***s off. OK for the girls.

Baz

Early Potatoes
 

In message , Baz
writes
Gopher wrote in :


Thank you Baz .... that's more or less as I recall it so, although I
think Rusty's method was the first you mention, the second makes sense
too; therefore, I think I'll try both to see what happens. And keep up
your explanations.... this one is perfectly understandable:-))
Thanks again.

Will you let us know how you get on when it's time to pick and eat?
Or dig and eat as in your case. Not long now till we can do it and be
outside without freezing our b***s off. OK for the girls.

Baz

Will do!
--
Gopher .... I know my place!