On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 14:43:47 -0000, Mark
wrote:

Hi

Yet another question!

I'm considering planting some potatoes in a container of some kind (oil
drum? large plastic bin?) in my garden. I've never grown potatoes
before, so it's all a mystery to me.

From what I've read, it looks like I need to 'chit' some 'tubers' (are
these seed potatoes?) by putting them in egg boxes or whatever, then
plant them out and wait (soiling up when necessary).

I see that thompson-morgan.com sell tubers for a few quid, but I presume
these need chitting which is going to take some time. Everything I've
read suggests that the potatoes need planting about now, so do I have
time to chit and plant this year?

I don't have room to grow lots of potatoes, but just a few would be
nice. I'd really like some small, waxy potatoes (I've heard that Ratte
and Wilja are good) for salads. I'm not too bothered about bigger spuds.

Thanks!

Mark
Hi Mark, As it was many days ago I hope you still see this.
I'd agree with most of the advice you got about not bothering to chit
etc. I have a farm, and whilst I don't grow potatoes myself (other
than in the garden), I do let fields to growers. The years following
are problematic in that there is always a large number of volunteer
potatoes in the next crop. They seem to be able to survive under
ground all winter and even shake off weedkiller applied to the
barley/wheat etc. At least many of them do.
The point is that you can use them and abuse them and you will still
get a crop.
As I write this on 13 April the field I have let this year has not
been touched. Things have warmed up this last few days, but they have
been unseasonably cold (SE Scotland). I believe there is no point in
planting potatoes until the soil temp has reached 5 deg C. i.e plant
it earlier and it just sits until things warm up.
Enough of the lesson, but I hope you've read this far as my last piece
of advice is the best. You only want a few potatoes to use as seed?
Well go down to your local greengrocer (or supermarket if you must)
and buy 1 or 2 or 3 or whatever you need. Try different varieties.
They are just the same spuds after all:-)
Good luck
Jonny

The message
from Jonny contains these words:

Enough of the lesson, but I hope you've read this far as my last piece
of advice is the best. You only want a few potatoes to use as seed?
Well go down to your local greengrocer (or supermarket if you must)
and buy 1 or 2 or 3 or whatever you need. Try different varieties.
They are just the same spuds after all:-)

They might be the same varieties, but there are other important differences.
Seed potatoes are certified disease-free.
Some grocer-potatoes have been treated to inhibit sprouting, which is
the exact oposite of what you need for growing spuds.

I agree it's not too late for planting though; I only put mine in last
Friday. Last year's left-over crop in the garden are only just starting
into growth.

Janet (Isle of Arran).

In article , Jonny
writes:

Subject: Too late for potatoes
From: Jonny
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 19:40:56 +0100

On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 14:43:47 -0000, Mark
wrote:

Hi

Yet another question!

I'm considering planting some potatoes in a container of some kind (oil
drum? large plastic bin?) in my garden. I've never grown potatoes
before, so it's all a mystery to me.

From what I've read, it looks like I need to 'chit' some 'tubers' (are
these seed potatoes?) by putting them in egg boxes or whatever, then
plant them out and wait (soiling up when necessary).

I see that thompson-morgan.com sell tubers for a few quid, but I presume
these need chitting which is going to take some time. Everything I've
read suggests that the potatoes need planting about now, so do I have
time to chit and plant this year?

I don't have room to grow lots of potatoes, but just a few would be
nice. I'd really like some small, waxy potatoes (I've heard that Ratte
and Wilja are good) for salads. I'm not too bothered about bigger spuds.

Thanks!

Mark
Hi Mark, As it was many days ago I hope you still see this.
I'd agree with most of the advice you got about not bothering to chit
etc. I have a farm, and whilst I don't grow potatoes myself (other
than in the garden), I do let fields to growers. The years following
are problematic in that there is always a large number of volunteer
potatoes in the next crop. They seem to be able to survive under
ground all winter and even shake off weedkiller applied to the
barley/wheat etc. At least many of them do.
The point is that you can use them and abuse them and you will still
get a crop.
As I write this on 13 April the field I have let this year has not
been touched. Things have warmed up this last few days, but they have
been unseasonably cold (SE Scotland). I believe there is no point in
planting potatoes until the soil temp has reached 5 deg C. i.e plant
it earlier and it just sits until things warm up.
Enough of the lesson, but I hope you've read this far as my last piece
of advice is the best. You only want a few potatoes to use as seed?
Well go down to your local greengrocer (or supermarket if you must)
and buy 1 or 2 or 3 or whatever you need. Try different varieties.
They are just the same spuds after all:-)
Good luck
Jonny

Hi

In our garden we always grow spuds. However carefully we lift the crop we must
leave some, or parts of some. They are always the first to shoot and crop.

Peter Bridge

"Mark" wrote in message
.org...
On 2004-04-06, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article , "Neil Jones"
writes:
"Mark" wrote in message
.org...
I see that thompson-morgan.com sell tubers for a few quid, but I
presume these need chitting which is going to take some time.
Everything I've read suggests that the potatoes need planting
about now, so do I have time to chit and plant this year?

I've been a bit slow getting my spuds chitted but I think they'll be
OK.

Ignore anything that says that. It is total bullshit. My soil only
warmed up enough to plant broad beans a couple of weeks back, and I
shan't be planting potatoes for a while yet. They are sitting there
chitting slowly to themselves.

Yes, you have time. Even for (latish) first earlies.

Excellent. I'll get some chitting ASAP, but does anyone know anywhere in
Hampshire that I could beg or steal (not sure you can borrow a potato)
some pre-chitted tubers?

It may be too late, and too far away, but the Tenaker Farm Shop in
Chobham, Surrey, sells them by the one!

And the price is very reasonable, I've been going there for quite a
few ears now, I usually buy three different types, first early, second
early and maincrop, just six of each, this year I went mad and bought
eight of each, put each variety in a seperate bag, then the whole lot
in one bag, they sell by the kilo.

If you can get there, and its not too late you could ring them on
01276 858637 to see if they have any left, as they still seem to be on
sale in the garden centres its not too late to plant, in fact I still have
to
plant the second earlies and the maincrop!

Alan
--
Reply to alan(at)windsor-berks(dot)freeserve(dot)co(dot)uk

On Wed, 26 May 2004 21:21:02 +0100, "Alan Holmes"
wrote:


It may be too late, and too far away, but the Tenaker Farm Shop in
Chobham, Surrey, sells them by the one!

And the price is very reasonable, I've been going there for quite a
few ears now,

they sell corn too? :-)

On Wed, 26 May 2004 21:21:02 +0100, "Alan Holmes"
wrote:


It may be too late, and too far away, but the Tenaker Farm Shop in
Chobham, Surrey, sells them by the one!

And the price is very reasonable, I've been going there for quite a
few ears now,

they sell corn too? :-)

On Wed, 26 May 2004 21:21:02 +0100, "Alan Holmes"
wrote:


It may be too late, and too far away, but the Tenaker Farm Shop in
Chobham, Surrey, sells them by the one!

And the price is very reasonable, I've been going there for quite a
few ears now,

they sell corn too? :-)

On Wed, 26 May 2004 21:21:02 +0100, "Alan Holmes"
wrote:


It may be too late, and too far away, but the Tenaker Farm Shop in
Chobham, Surrey, sells them by the one!

And the price is very reasonable, I've been going there for quite a
few ears now,

they sell corn too? :-)

"martin" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 26 May 2004 21:21:02 +0100, "Alan Holmes"
wrote:


It may be too late, and too far away, but the Tenaker Farm Shop in
Chobham, Surrey, sells them by the one!

And the price is very reasonable, I've been going there for quite a
few ears now,

they sell corn too? :-)
************************
No, he's talkin about potatOs. ( potato,-potatos.. tomato,- tomatoes.)
He hasn't had the superior education accorded to me in my youth, -
(Borstal).
BTW, my experiments for some years with various First Early spuds, first
planted in unheated greenhouse, late Feb. ; and later on the patio to
maturity, have convinced me that the nicest first-early spud is Pentland
Javelin by far, with Rocket the only other one worth trying.
I use black buckets, (holes drilled in the bottoms), and the Doug Taty-Mix
Marque Five method,which is very roughly:- 2 parts soil, 1 part peat, 1 part
composted leaves plus 1 part junk from the compost bin and a smattering of
coarse sand. Careful with the sand, its lightening-up capabilities is
dramatic.
All are mixed inside my trusty cement mixer, bless it, - it takes all the
rough stuff I have loaded, and bingo!. (Pass that can of lager, matey)!. If
left for a while, out pours friable easy-to-handle compost.
In the greenhouse the bucket has four inches of compost put into the bottom.
A chitted taty is shoved fully into it, proper way up. It is watered. As
the leaves develop, compost is fed round the sides of the plant so that only
a few leaves protrude. The weather governs whether the soil reaches the top
of the bucket in the greenhouse or on the patio. On the patio nearly
always wins now that we have warmer weather.
Harvest when the flowers are just starting to limp. Most of the tubers
should be nice and plump and you should be able to wipe off the skin with
the ball of the thumb.
make sure you get proper Pentland Javelins. I have twice had crops that
bore no relation to the real Javelin taty.
You can use soil from your garden but remember it is full of weed seeds.
Buying sifted heat-treated soil is expensive, but who cares?, - use what
you can get, you can easily pull chickweed out of the top of a bucket.
Doug.
***********************

On Fri, 28 May 2004, Douglas wrote:

No, he's talkin about potatOs. ( potato,-potatos.. tomato,- tomatoes.)
He hasn't had the superior education accorded to me in my youth, -
(Borstal).

According to the Oxford English Dictionary: potatOES


--
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Internet: | writing from |
| Fidonet: David Rance 2:252/110 | Caversham, |
| BBS: telnet://mesnil.demon.co.uk | Reading, UK |
+-------------------------------------------------------+

In article , David Rance david.ran
writes

According to the Oxford English Dictionary: potatOES

and according to Chambers English Dictionary
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

"Alan Gould" wrote in message
...
In article , David Rance david.ran
writes

According to the Oxford English Dictionary: potatOES

and according to Chambers English Dictionary
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

*************
That's not what I was taught at Borstal. It was potato-potatos :
tomato-tomatoes .
Wanna fight? - not me!, - I'm a coward.
I have the large and the small books of The New Oxford Dict. of English.
The small one is for young students, the big one for ignorami like me. The
Publishers keep up with changes and Public opinion and tend to avoid
historic sources a wee bit, I think. Fr'Instance, they follow the trend
and say that "holocaust" as attributed to the German concentration camps was
correctly referring to the mass deaths suffered there by the victims. some
of whom were of the Jewish faith. The fact is that Holocaust (old Greek)
means mass death by conflagration whereas the truth was that not only were
the mass deaths due to typhus but if they could get hold of one chunk of
wood or even a stove to burn it in would have been a bonus.
Times change, habits change but my complaint is that ancient Greek by
virtue of its time distance cannot alter the true meaning of "holocaust".
I'll concede the potato - potatoes.
Toodle -pip!
Doug

In article , Douglas
writes
I'll concede the potato - potatoes.
Toodle -pip!
But Doug, don't you know that spuds don't have pips?
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.