Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Ecodigger on March 21, 2018, 12:44
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Hello everyone, this is only my second year on my allotment, i had great fist year apart from some pesky onion fly and a very hungry rat that seemed to love the taste of my sweetcorn ! I'm chomping at the bit to get my earlies in but the news is more snow until mid April, will i matter if i wait a bit ?
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It just means your harvest will be later, but we are all in the same boat. My earlies are staying in the shed a while yet ;) :)
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I would usually have got mine in my now, but the ground is till too wet and cold. I'll see what next week brings.
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Sadly, a late harvest down here will mean a crop almost certainly curtailed by blight, so I have planted charlottes today, and my maincrop Pipers and Edwards are going in tomorrow morning, as they are most at risk from blight. Other earlies can wait until there is another bed available that is reasonably dry.
Not quite so cold down here in the South West, and the beds I'm using have been protected from the worst of the Winter's rain. I will protect from any heavy downpours in the next 3 weeks.
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Going to plant mine on Friday I think. I've put a rudimentary cover over the bed made from my old polytunnel cover to keep the worst of the rain and potential snow off the spuds.
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My charlotts also went in today with it being the equinox. Its an old family tradition that has been kept up qas far back as my great grandfather. Now a grandfather myself I am passing that down to my youngest Grandson (9yrs)Never had a failed crop yet.
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My charlotte spuds are also in,fingers crossed they will be fine :wub:
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I'm not rushing.
Mine went in early April last year and still got nipped by frost. Why the rush?
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No, mine are still chitting in the unheated conservatory. Old gardeners used to say it was warm enough to get started when the soil felt warm to a bare bottom, but I won’t be using THAT measure on the plot 😂😂😂
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Second weekend of April for mine, they soon catch up with increased warmth (praying hard) and more daylight hours. Having said that I have just looked at my weater stations stats and we are around 4c lower than average for March but on the upside, the Pennines is keeping the wet stuff over there so a lot drier this year!
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Not yet, I am planning too this weekend if the soil conditions are suitable. Unfortunately even in the tropical SE, winter just doesn't want to let go this year (like 2013), so at worst I'll have to wait until the weekend after Easter. I had to do that in 2013 and still got a crop. It is better to hold off and get a later crop, than try and pretend that it is an average Spring and end up with no crop. At least this week we have had double figure daytime temperatures and lack of frost which hopefully will help the soil get a bit drier and warmer. That is the other problem, it hasn't been a wet winter but the soil everywhere is soaking wet, probably because seven out of the last eight months have had below normal sunshine.
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how about if you planted them an covered with grass cutting as that warms up
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No, mine are still chitting in the unheated conservatory. Old gardeners used to say it was warm enough to get started when the soil felt warm to a bare bottom, but I won’t be using THAT measure on the plot 😂😂😂
Snowy, given the size of my bottom, if I did sit down on the plot I'd probably warm up an area big enough to plant the first early spuds!
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like most of you our seed potatoes are still resting in the conservatory its still to wet to even think about planting i.ve yet to plough the ground then cultivate so its going to be a couple of weeks assuming the weather improves before we can do any planting
and its forecast snow again for us due to happen the back end of next week happy days :ohmy:
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Well, looking at the forecast down here, things aren't going to improve wet wise for two weeks at least. Tipping down again now, front after front, not so wet in the east obviously. So one might as well plant the potatoes in a bed covered from the rain as best as can be managed. At least they have as much warmth as is possible, and as little wet as possible. Another month of hanging around and it won't be worth planting any main crop potatoes.
The weather has been largely "stuck" for months now, other than the beast, and I don't see any sign of it changing. Worst Autumn/Winter/Spring I can remember by quite some distance. 2013 was a doddle compared to this year.
Logic would say even if some of the first potatoes rotted and didn't appear after 4 weeks, some more could always be planted out at the same time as those that are hanging back anyway. It's only a tenner lost. I would rather "dual run", possibly lose part of the first attempt, than get no potatoes at all. This logic bears in mind blight almost always appears on our site down here in July. A late April maincrop planting is almost pointless. My maincrop went in yesterday under cover.
In the end, even commercial growers' crops fail sometimes. Who can remember the Southern/Spanish crop shortage last year in the supermarkets ?
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Same problem here for me VIctoria. Blight is such a problem at our site maincrops are not worth bothering with. I'll take a punt with my earlies this weekend. All being well they'll be out just in time to pop my leeks into the bed after.
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I bought a few plants (cabbages, pak soy, a few varieties of lettuce, leeks), unions and potatoes today at the little market which is organized a few times at our plot.
The potatoes, unions and leeks will go in next week, which is 2 weeks later then last year, the other plants will have a stop between in the green house. It will probably freeze of and on until the end of april. The weekend of 14 15 may is the official change to milder weather so I will be careful until then.
Hopefully we will have some early veg from the green house! :)
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I planted ours last Wednesday as an experiment in the Polytunnel, on Holiday now for a fortnight so its up to Nature if they do ok.
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Well I live in south west France and to be honest I have not even thought about putting potatoes in the ground.. what is the point? It is cold, wet an any growth will be painfully slow I am waiting until the ground is at least warm enough to encourage weeds to grow!
To be fair everything is well behind last spring... I have only just sown my tomatoes!
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I have some planted in the border in the PT since the beginning of the month. They are just starting to pop through but haven’t even thought of putting them outside. As I am away from Friday for a week they won’t be going in until end of first week in April at the earliest
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I planted some Rocket in a tub last week and have just planted some Rocket and Red Duke of York in a raised bed on the allotment and covered it in black plastic. Must remember to remove the black plastic at some point and replace with some cloches when they come up.
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That's how to do it, Nobbie. Snap.
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Put 1 row 10mtrs of swift today covered with scaffold debri netting
pipfit
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Just got mine in today... Rocket, Charlotte & Desirée... With the help of my eldest (7) 15 of each. Not covered with anything as weather forecast to be mild for the foreseeable, but will be keeping an eye on it :-)
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Planted out some Pentland Javelin today. Doesn't look like we're due any terrible weather hear, but fleece will be at the ready until May.
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I planted two rows of Lady Cristl yesterday. I would hope that by the time they are up the worst of the frosts will be over.
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I planted two rows of Lady Cristl yesterday. I would hope that by the time they are up the worst of the frosts will be over.
You need ALL of the frosts to be over by the time they come up! ;)
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Planted half my Casblancas into bags n buckets and left them in the PT, i'll move them outside next weekend weather permitting. I want all my tatties in bags n buckets this year but i'm struggling to source them at a reasonable price, any ideas folks ?
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Would it be tempting fate to start earlies in growing bags in the green house?
jcbuz1970 how much have you been paying?
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Yes, first early's are out in bags and second early's are out in the ground. I'm planning to do mains this weekend. Judging by most on this thread, I might be a bit keen! The ground has been covered all winter and doesn't feel to cold to the touch.
I also planted some in a sack in the GH, back in February and they're all up and going well.
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Tenhens
jcbuz1970 how much have you been paying?
What I have so far I have been given, it's the rubber type buckets that plasters use but they are £7 each.
Might try a car boot this weekend if I get a chance.
I think Wilko (other supermarkets are available) has grow bags that'll be cheap but not sure of the size or quality.
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Wilkos are £1.25 each in a pack of two, not the most robust so unable to give feedback as this will be the first time I've used them. Also bought some via Amazon from north of the border , can't recall how much but they are more sturdy. Both types are 40 litre if memory serves. They do require plenty of water.
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I planted two rows of Lady Cristl yesterday. I would hope that by the time they are up the worst of the frosts will be over.
You need ALL of the frosts to be over by the time they come up! ;)
Have plastic sheeting - will cover! ;)
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The old boys on our allotments were out in force planting their potatoes yesterday.
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Wilkos are £1.25 each in a pack of two, not the most robust so unable to give feedback as this will be the first time I've used them. Also bought some via Amazon from north of the border , can't recall how much but they are more sturdy. Both types are 40 litre if memory serves. They do require plenty of water.
10 bags for £18.99 on amazon, 45 litres capacity (also from JBA seed potato people in Scotland). I also ordered some more of these recently. They are very good, very strong handles etc (nothing worse than lifting a full bag to move it only for the handle to break, spilling the lot on the floor in the process). I have been using this type for years, gradually replacing the cheapo wilko type bags I used to use. I wash them out with jeyes solution every year. I think the extra cost is well worth it.
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Wilkos are £1.25 each in a pack of two, not the most robust so unable to give feedback as this will be the first time I've used them. Also bought some via Amazon from north of the border , can't recall how much but they are more sturdy. Both types are 40 litre if memory serves. They do require plenty of water.
10 bags for £18.99 on amazon, 45 litres capacity (also from JBA seed potato people in Scotland). I also ordered some more of these recently. They are very good, very strong handles etc (nothing worse than lifting a full bag to move it only for the handle to break, spilling the lot on the floor in the process). I have been using this type for years, gradually replacing the cheapo wilko type bags I used to use. I wash them out with jeyes solution every year. I think the extra cost is well worth it.
Have just looked these up , ordered some last year and paid £5.95 postage :( :( :( appears they are now post free!
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Cheers Tenhens, just found them on Amazon and they look exactly the type I could use.
Saved me a small fortune ;)
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Glad to help.
There is a very useful post on these pages about growing in bags , should come up via the search , written by Lettuce , from what I recall.
Have just been to a local grass recreation area , very soggy under foot , not very warm either which made me think 'hang on with outdoor planting'.
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Planted all my spuds - 1st, seconds, mains. 1sts went in between snows, rest after last snow. Both on warm days!
1sts in a raised bed at the top of a hill - opposite of a frost pocket I hope, double fleeced.
2nds in a builders bag full of topsoil, covered with a tarp also top of hill
mains also double fleeced.
I had a scratch at the 1st's and there's some two inch shoots.
I have a lot of topsoil spare for earthing up when needed so fingers crossed....
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1st and 2nd earlies were planted last weekend. The early and late mains will be planted the weekend after Easter when I am back from a family visit.
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Re planting main crop - I always use Sarpo potatoes to beat blight anyway- it’s been very successful for me.
Might be worth investing if we want a main crop.....
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My spuds remain chitting in the spare bedroom. The ground is completely waterlogged and impossible to dig in and more snow is forecast for tomorrow.
Fingers crossed I will set the bags off in the polytunnel on Wednesday, but will need to wait a bit before I plant those going in the beds.
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Mine are still in their egg trays, as we were away last week... hope to get some in the ground this week though.
5 Swifts in the polytunnel are up though: extra protection from a large cloche too. Been in since the end of February, so hoping for an early meal or two
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Not a chance for me, ground is still very wet and cold. They are still chitting anyway, so be a couple of weeks yet.
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I'm thinking of planting next weekend, depending on weather. Hopefully the cardboard will have warmed the soil a little. The advice I got at potato day was to plant earlies and mains all together but it seems other people plant earlies first- what opinions do people have on this?
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The advice I got at potato day was to plant earlies and mains all together but it seems other people plant earlies first- what opinions do people have on this?
"Earlies" refers to the cropping period, not the planting time. I plant all mine at the same time, if physically possible, or a least over a couple of adjacent days.
There is a school of thought that says you should plant maincrop first as these take longer to mature.
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Planted my spuds yesterday, 7 international kidney and 7 charlottes. Working on the premise that it is going to be warm rain all day today and then it’s going to warm up, apparently!
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I was otherwise engaged yesterday and with 9mm of rain already this morning, I guess they're just going to have to wait.
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The advice I got at potato day was to plant earlies and mains all together but it seems other people plant earlies first- what opinions do people have on this?
"Earlies" refers to the cropping period, not the planting time. I plant all mine at the same time, if physically possible, or a least over a couple of adjacent days.
There is a school of thought that says you should plant maincrop first as these take longer to mature.
I had thought this was the case but evidently got myself confused, thanks!
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The advice I got at potato day was to plant earlies and mains all together but it seems other people plant earlies first- what opinions do people have on this?
"Earlies" refers to the cropping period, not the planting time. I plant all mine at the same time, if physically possible, or a least over a couple of adjacent days.
There is a school of thought that says you should plant maincrop first as these take longer to mature.
I haven't planted my mains yet, as I didn't have time to plant all my potatoes before the Easter weekend. In my (limited) experience, there is a case for planting the mains out a couple of weeks later, as in previous years, I have planted everything out on the same weekend. What happens is that the first earlies are ready, I gradually get through them, the second earlies are ready, and I start going through those, but then the main crops are ready in the first half of August, when I still have a load of second earlies to harvest and eat, then the late mains are ready at the end of August. I end up having to store four bags of potatoes at the beginning of autumn, and a lot get thrown away because I can't eat them all over winter before they produce huge sprouts. If the mains were ready in late September or October it would space things out better.
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I haven't planted my mains yet, as I didn't have time to plant all my potatoes before the Easter weekend. In my (limited) experience, there is a case for planting the mains out a couple of weeks later, as in previous years, I have planted everything out on the same weekend. What happens is that the first earlies are ready, I gradually get through them, the second earlies are ready, and I start going through those, but then the main crops are ready in the first half of August, when I still have a load of second earlies to harvest and eat, then the late mains are ready at the end of August. I end up having to store four bags of potatoes at the beginning of autumn, and a lot get thrown away because I can't eat them all over winter before they produce huge sprouts. If the mains were ready in late September or October it would space things out better.
And the later you leave it, the greater the risk of getting blight.
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Al, I'm one of those that thinks maincrops should go in maybe even before earlies in a bad Spring, given their long maturity cycle.
Some years the weather just doesn't play ball at all with some crops, particularly potatoes. In such years, I think it's just a case of getting a crop at all, not worrying about whether they all come to fruition and I have too many to store at the wrong time LOL
I've planted most of my potatoes already, expect them all to come up but am aware some might not with the inclement Spring. Charlottes are a good potato to use in such cusp years I think where they can act as an early, but also go longer term as a sort of main crop that will store, blight permitting a full term happy life. So, I've purchased an extra 3 kg of charlottes to put in when the ground is more suited, to cover eventualities as best I can. In the end, if I have a lot of potatoes all at the same time, I can always cut and freeze, even blanche beforehand. Not perfect, but it's an awful year.
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I haven't planted my mains yet, as I didn't have time to plant all my potatoes before the Easter weekend. In my (limited) experience, there is a case for planting the mains out a couple of weeks later, as in previous years, I have planted everything out on the same weekend. What happens is that the first earlies are ready, I gradually get through them, the second earlies are ready, and I start going through those, but then the main crops are ready in the first half of August, when I still have a load of second earlies to harvest and eat, then the late mains are ready at the end of August. I end up having to store four bags of potatoes at the beginning of autumn, and a lot get thrown away because I can't eat them all over winter before they produce huge sprouts. If the mains were ready in late September or October it would space things out better.
And the later you leave it, the greater the risk of getting blight.
True, but I will have to take my chance, hope that summer is a lot drier than spring has been so far. I always keep a lookout for signs of blight on potato foliage and cut it down if I see it, hopefully that will keep it off the tubers. I will plant the mains this coming weekend.
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Planted my earlies about a week ago and covered them with a cloche to keep the heavy rain off and hopefully gain a bit of warmth. Haven't even turned over the green manure and soil where the main crop is going due to bad weather. I'm hoping that I can later this week, but they will be late going in. However my main crop has always matured ready for lifting by end of July, so a bit later will not be a problem.
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Planted my earlies today and will get my main crop in next week weather permitting!
Had already dug over area few weeks ago and covered after planting with rabbit poo and straw so hoping this will help if more frost.
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My Arran Pilot have just gone in.
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All gone in today, charlottes and desiree.
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Earlies are in, trying Jazzy for the first time plus 4 other varieties, mains going in on Sunday, King Edward and Cara.
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I am planning on planting mine this weekend now that things are warming up a bit more - have red duke of york and pentland javelin seed potatoes and the beds are ready.
It has really take a while to start feeling like spring here, was 7 degrees C at 9 o'clock this morning, incredbibly dull and raining! I was hoping to complete some more digging over this afternoon but the ground may be too wet.
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A volunteer Charlotte from last year popped it's head up out of the soil today, so clearly the ground is dry enough and warm enough. Glad I trusted the early planting mantra and planted outside 3 weeks ago, albeit a week later than I would have wished. Not an easy start to the year for potatoes and onions, but it's all looking set fair now.
I am so looking forward to my new polytunnel at the end of the year, where I can grow a larger crop of proper early potatoes...... have only 5 Sharpes express plants in my greenhouse, all well on the way to maturity.