Only earlies?

I am chitting all my earlies this year. Takes up some more space on the
'cill but I think it works to get a few spuds a few days earlier, but if
not I feel better for it all the same.

Baz

You can't plant them out yet, they will chit anyway, and it's better than leaving them in the little net bag (if they are in one) and having to disentangle then later.

Yeah, you gotta get them out of the net bag anyway so why not chit them? Mine are laid out in the 30 egg trays as always and will be planted under plastic tunnel cloches on the 15th March as I always do if the soil is dry enough!

OtherFellow wrote in
:

Yeah, you gotta get them out of the net bag anyway so why not chit them?
Mine are laid out in the 30 egg trays as always and will be planted
under plastic tunnel cloches on the 15th March as I always do if the
soil is dry enough!


I bought a plastic tunnel the other day on impulse. I would only get 10
seed potatoes under it but its a start.
Do you get a much earlier harvest? I would like to know, I am always on the
lookout for ways to get earlier summer crops.

Baz

Baz wrote:
I bought a plastic tunnel the other day on impulse. I would only get 10
seed potatoes under it but its a start.
Do you get a much earlier harvest? I would like to know, I am always on the
lookout for ways to get earlier summer crops.

I don't think we've tried potatoes under plastic, but I guess it would
protect against unexpected late frost, which can kill off the top growth if
you've not been soiling them up enough. Some of ours got zapped by frost
last year.

We use fleece to cover our brassicas to keep off pests, but they never work
cos the damned things just rip when it gets windy. Nick does keep trying,
though!

wrote in message
...
Baz wrote:
I bought a plastic tunnel the other day on impulse. I would only get 10
seed potatoes under it but its a start.
Do you get a much earlier harvest? I would like to know, I am always on
the
lookout for ways to get earlier summer crops.

I don't think we've tried potatoes under plastic, but I guess it would
protect against unexpected late frost, which can kill off the top growth
if
you've not been soiling them up enough. Some of ours got zapped by frost
last year.


We bought a house in Leicester with a big chunk of land overgrown with
everything. We hacked it down and ran the Atco Rotosythe over it to 'ground
level' then spread compost in rows about 2 feet wide about 6 feet apart.
Laid out black plastic about 3 feet wide right across the 'field' and cut
crosses in the plastic every 2 - 3 feet and shoved a spud through the cross
into the compost.

Secured the edges of the plastic so the wind couldn't get under and waited.
'Picked' the potatoes as they grew by lifting the plastic.

Later when they were really ready for cropping, rolled the plastic back and
collected the spuds in a wheelbarrow. Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaar to many for us so
gave them away by the sack load to the neighbours. :-)) Always keep your
neighbours sweet, you have to live with them :-))

Spuds under plastic? Highly recommended.

Mike



--

....................................
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive
....................................

"'Mike'" wrote in
:



wrote in message
...
Baz wrote:
I bought a plastic tunnel the other day on impulse. I would only get
10 seed potatoes under it but its a start.
Do you get a much earlier harvest? I would like to know, I am always
on the
lookout for ways to get earlier summer crops.

I don't think we've tried potatoes under plastic, but I guess it
would protect against unexpected late frost, which can kill off the
top growth if
you've not been soiling them up enough. Some of ours got zapped by
frost last year.


We bought a house in Leicester with a big chunk of land overgrown with
everything. We hacked it down and ran the Atco Rotosythe over it to
'ground level' then spread compost in rows about 2 feet wide about 6
feet apart. Laid out black plastic about 3 feet wide right across the
'field' and cut crosses in the plastic every 2 - 3 feet and shoved a
spud through the cross into the compost.

Secured the edges of the plastic so the wind couldn't get under and
waited. 'Picked' the potatoes as they grew by lifting the plastic.

Later when they were really ready for cropping, rolled the plastic
back and collected the spuds in a wheelbarrow. Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaar to
many for us so gave them away by the sack load to the neighbours. :-))
Always keep your neighbours sweet, you have to live with them :-))

Spuds under plastic? Highly recommended.

Mike




Nice.
How did you water them?

Baz

'Mike' wrote:
Later when they were really ready for cropping, rolled the plastic back and
collected the spuds in a wheelbarrow. Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaar to many for us so
gave them away by the sack load to the neighbours. :-)) Always keep your
neighbours sweet, you have to live with them :-))

Spuds under plastic? Highly recommended.

Sounds similar to how we grew our sweet potatoes last year.

It's a good impulse. I've been growing my earlies under these for over 30 years now. I get early spuds around three weeks before anyone else here, and a good crop too.

I get my tunnels in Lidl, they're about £2.99 for a 5 metre one and I get around 15 earlies under it. I mulch very well with manure and they hardly ever require watering.

WTG.

Hi, Swanlake, We usually chit ours in the kitchen, on the windowsill, I place each one in an egg box.
You are so right Ladywillow, the pink firs are delicious!!
Rozie, I have never thought of freezing them whole and cooking them like that! Will definitely try it this year.

Last year we bought some "Charlotte's" and much to our surprise they were ready in only 10 weeks. We were waiting for them to flower and die off but they never. When the plants started to die off we thought we'd dig them up to see what they were like and much to our surprise they were ready :shock:

ASDA, Wal-Mart in America are selling Charlotte's for £1 a bag so we have bought some with a view to letting them sprout. To Chit them we have placed them in a warm sunny spot in egg boxes. We are hoping that if this works we can just keep growing our own from this one bag,year after year hopefully.

On 20/02/2011 14:20, Baz wrote:
Only earlies?

I am chitting all my earlies this year. Takes up some more space on the
'cill but I think it works to get a few spuds a few days earlier, but if
not I feel better for it all the same.

Baz



Well, I certainly am. I may only grow a few this year, but chitting has
always worked for me. I've just got a few International Kidney atm. I
wanted some Dunluce, which T&M sell, but don't like their split-company
procedure. I don't mind if they grow my plants in different places, or
that they arrive at different times, but I *do* mind if I can't order
them or pay for them in one go. It makes me spit cobwebs! They should
have a parent company which deals with accounts procedures separately.
If they want to split the money up, they should do it internally, not
inflict it on their customers.

Sorry to divert *and* rant in your thread :~(. Scuttles back under stone.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay