[hogwarden]

 -sorry if this has been covered elsewhere but I`m about to plant up a couple of containers for early crop of new potatoes whilst the others come on in the ground-when the weather improves!
So, i`ll have these containers empty after spring cropping-- so when do i plant them up to get spuds for Christmas and where from  & what seed potatoes do i use as i reckon will need to plant say about Sept/Oct. time--help please -but no rush?

[goodegg]

what you need to do is when you dig your early potatoes save what you need to plant for Christmas let them lie in the sun to go green then store them somewhere cool . then the end of august plant them in your container  old dust bin what ever.

[aelf]

This is my plan:
I'll collect a couple of potatoes from my crop, allow them to dry in the sun for a day then wrap them in paper towels and store them in the fridge for at least a month. I will then put them out to chit around the middle of July and plant them in bags outside by mid August. They'll go into the greenhouse in September and onto my plate Christmas day! 

That's the plan, anyway. 

[hogwarden]

Thanks for that advice-seems we are using a `once grown seed` principle here, never thought of that for this need-cheers

[Kristen]

You can buy prepared seed potatoes (around July time) for planting in August - e.g JBA Potatoes.

The problem with using own-seed spuds is that the cooling period they need to break their dormancy is about 60 days which means you need to harvest pretty early to give them enough time before they have to be planted again.

I prefer to eat the spuds that I grow in tubs to get them that early!

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=39908.msg473134#msg473134

[Lupin lurcher]

Hi, these methods seem a good idea to me, last year I brought some from a well known suppliers.  I planted them directly into the ground on my lotty at end of August I had four rows about 20ft each, I gave my parents 6 potatoes that they grew in 2 large pots (3 in each) they had 2 pounds and in my four rows I only had 6 pounds, so growing them in pots in my experience is the way to go.  Regards Mandy.

[Jamie Butterworth]

if I was to harvest my potaoes, how long would they last in a cool place, say a gardage in storage?

[Iain@JBA]

I think the secret with the summer planting potatoes is to get them chitted as described in another thread on here. You should look at planting your potatoes from August onwards so that the shoots pop through near the 3rd week and hopefully miss the worst of blight. I grow them in containers and they can be kept indoors or undercover.
I think one top tip is not to water and greenery of the potato plants because this can cause ideal blight conditions. Keep the haulms dry if you can.
You need your potatoes to grow and bulk up really quickly as the first frost will kill the haulms if they are outdoors. The potatoes will grow up until end of October normally and then things will start to slow down and die back. If you are growing in containers I would stop watering at the first sign of die back and let the compost dry out to make harvest easy. If you are growing outdoors then you have the choice to harvest and store them or leave in the ground until Christmas.