Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Aidy on September 11, 2018, 11:22
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:( Dug two rows (20ft row) of mains on Sunday..... GUTTED :( :(
In two rows of spuds I have managed to half (yes HALF) fill a spud sack with Desiree, and then they smallish compared to normal!
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Nearly everyone at our site had the same, half the normal crop of spuds, though most people's were of a good size.
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I'm sorry to hear that Aidy. It seems that quite a few people on here have had the same problem yet I've had really good yields from my Charlottes and Elfe. Lady Crystal I won't bother with again as they didn't give a good crop and got slugged quite quickly. I planted them in my raised beds then they just got the occasional sprinkling until the dry spell ended. They both had a good leaf canopy and showed no yellowing until they went over. It's very strange as we don't live too far apart so we would have had similar weather. Hmm.
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This morning I've dug a 6ft row of my Desirees, and yield was rubbish here as well. Only 4 good size potatoes and yes - ain't it always the way? - these are the ones that the fork went through :(
So something with mash on for tea....
I've thrown away a lot of tiddlers this year, as well, so just know there'll be a lot of volunteers next year, from the ones I missed.
I think this has been my worst ever allotment year, yield-wise.
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Really disappointing... this happened to me one year when I planted in bags... tonnes of leafage but a piddling crop when turned out. I guess that's the rub in this game, some years it just doesn't go to plan.
I planted some Christmas potatoes last month and only 5 of 15 have grown at all. 2018 not a spud year for many.
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This was the year that I decided not to bother growing main crop, and to only grow half of what I normally do of first and second earlies. Result??? Same as everyone else - pathetic crop despite watering, with tiny spuds and very few of them. Never mind, this is what makes gardening challenging. Next year I'll grow what I usually do and be inundated with potatoes!
Having said that, I have two potato plants growing from under the compost daleks by the greenhouse, where I deposit all the kitchen waste, chicken poo and bedding that are about three feet tall and about four feet across. If there's as big a crop underneath as there is foliage on top, I might be ok for a few spuds from there. Same thing happened last year with just one plant, and I had two huge washing up bowls full of potatoes.
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have just finished the charlotte's good crop.
lifted the first desiree very scabby a couple of big ones and a lot of small ones.
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My spuds (Red Duke of York, Charlotte, Sarpo Una, Pentland Javelin, Kestrel, Nicola, Ambo) have all been down on yield, but all a good size and quality. With one exception and that is Jazzy where yields were great too.
The best results after Jazzy were those grown in the ground rather than bags - Red Duke of York, Kestrel, Ambo. Both bags and those in beds were well watered. Red Duke of York had a minor bit of slug damage.
Definitely buying Jazzy again next year.
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I only grow earlies. Sharpes express were ok, Charlotte gave a good crop of lovely clean spuds, some of almost baker size! Colleen on the other hand were poor. Yield averaged about 1.5kg per seed but the slug damage was awful. At least half the crop was riddled. Got about half a dozen meals left then it's back to maincrops from the local farms. From what I've been reading prices are going to be much higher than previous years.
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I did quite well with spuds this year, despite the bone dry weather (I did water them every week or two). A few did get holes in them but there were very few so badly damaged they had to be chucked. I now have three full sacks of potatoes which will get me through half the winter or until they start sprouting, I'm wondering if I should put the sacks just outside the patio door so they stay cool during winter, bringing them in if frost is forecast. I can't remember the varieties I grew but the maincrop was a red variety.
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Great yield from the Charlotte good yield from the Athlete despite the cold Spring and dry hot Summer
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Not been a great year but can't complain. Dug up quarter of a row of "Jelly" on Saturday.
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Only got room to grow earlies - about half my Lady Christl succumbed to what looked like blackleg sooner or later, but those that didn't produced a pretty good crop despite the drought.
The area they were growing in is now well trampled by me picking my (also good) crop of autumn raspberries (the joys of limited growing space ::)) - I shall dig it over when they've finished and there will no doubt be lots of spuds I managed to miss first time round, hopefully some at least still edible.
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Most of my spuds have been pretty poor, but I still have Kifli growing away. They sat and sulked over the summer, but perked up once the rain finally came.
An exploratory dig of 1 plant revealed tubers looking promising. They are the first crop as well, not small tubers reshooting :)
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Dug the last row of mains today and in total I just about filled 1 sack!
looks like we are eating the clamped new spuds instead, had some last night and they are in good shape.
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Similar to others, the spuds here were about half the amount of last year. I was expecting it to be worse as there were hardly any tops at all!
Lots of little ones too but some of those will go in the beef stew for tonight :D
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Hi Aida. My Charlotte crop was really good and I had some decent Pentlandite Javelin early. The main crops were mixed. The Desiree were poor - a lot of small ones and loads with scab. My Cara crop was better as they are scab resistant and I did better than most of my neighbours. Still the Desiree I did get make the best mash. Cara are only good for baking and I won't grow them again. Back to Kestrel next year.