[drippin]

Due to circumstances beyond my control (honest!) my potato crop is still in the ground.  I could not get to the allotment at all at digging-up time and when I did get down for a quick look I am fairly certain they had blight.  Since then I have only had half an hour here and there, so most of them are still in the ground, along with beetroot, swede and celeriac.  Now we have really heavy snow, so I have no hope of doing anything about them, and of course once the snow is melted we could well have hard ground frosts.  I also have a big heap of manure which was delivered in September, sat there waiting to be spread.

Would love some advice about the best thing to do.

[fatbelly]

Would love some advice about the best thing to do.

No Offence intended at all but the VERY best thing you can do is get down to your Plot as soon as this weather eases and start doing some work. 

[aelf]

I guess you will have lost most of the spud crop by now to slugs, wireworm or frost/freeze damage. It's best, in my opinion, to dig them all up when the weather thaws so that the survivors don't sprout in the spring and to reduce the risk of leaving any disease in the soil.


Then start again next year 

[realfood]

Do not panic!! They are quite safe for the moment as snow is a very good insulator. Once the snow melts, either dig them up or cover with more soil or a tarpaulin to insulate against the frosts.
Most years, I deliberately leave in a half row of potatoes, covered with about 15 cm of extra soil, to dig up in March for decent potatoes when they are ***** in the shops. Most slug damage will have already occurred, though there has been very little slug damage this year.
It is normal to leave swedes and celeriac in the ground until you are ready to use them.

[drippin]

Thanks for your advice.  It really was unavoidable as I had both parents ill, and busy travelling to hospital miles away.  Very disappointed, as this is only my first full season of allotmenteering, and I was really hoping to get the plot looking ship-shape this autumn. Still, there's always another year - I know it's not a race.

What do you think I need to do to the ground once the potatoes are up, to eradicate any possible disease, and what do you think would be a good thing to plant in that bed next spring?

[fatbelly]

Thanks for your advice.  It really was unavoidable as I had both parents ill, and busy travelling to hospital miles away.  Very disappointed, as this is only my first full season of allotmenteering, and I was really hoping to get the plot looking ship-shape this autumn. Still, there's always another year - I know it's not a race.

What do you think I need to do to the ground once the potatoes are up, to eradicate any possible disease, and what do you think would be a good thing to plant in that bed next spring?

Sorry to hear your parents were ill, hope they are better now.

Brassicas would be a good thing to follow spuds with, a lot of three year crop rotations plans that I have seen recommended brassicas after spuds

If you can get hold of a soil pH test kit and test the pH of your soil and if necessary Lime for the Brassicas. As a guide most people Lime sometime over the winter or very early spring, so you have plenty of time.