[metalkitten]

First post here - please be kind!

I've only had a garden since February and have been going mad growing things ever since, mostly with success.  I'd planted three varieties of 'Christmas potatoes' in barrels on the patio and they were all going well until recently.

I'm pretty sure they've now copped it. I grew the three different varieties and one of the plants, the Maris Peer, collapsed a few weeks back. I lifted the spuds and they were small, but yummy.

However, last week we had a (VERY!) harsh frost, and my remaining two varieties, which had very healthy, bushy foliage, went all black from the frost and now look like cooked spinach. Horrible!

What I don't know is, are the spuds now ruined?

Should I
(a) leave them (as unsightly as they are) and see what happens?
(b) lift the spuds and hope for the best?
(c) cut back the foliage and see if it regrows?
(d) throw the whole lot away cos they're beyond saving?

They look terrible, but I'm so reluctant to give up on them!

Advice gratefully received by this complete novice.  

[spot1986]

I don't know where you are but I would say a, c, and d are out of it. It is quite possible that the spuds are Ok so I would go for ( b ).

[Yorkie]

Welcome to the site 

Feel free to pop into the welcome board to say hello and get hellos back.     It would also help if you could edit your forum profile (click username) to input your general location, as sometimes that's relevant to threads about growing stuff.

There is no point in a) retaining the frosted foliage as it is now dead.
I hope that d) is not the case, and certainly wouldn't throw anything away without checking the situation as in b).  Hopefully the tubers won't have been frosted too.

I think that b) is the most likely option - it may be a little late in the season for the seed tubers to throw up more foliage this late and cold in the year.

I'd have a rummage in these posts to check if the potatoes have gone mushy or whether they're still OK.  If they're OK and you want to leave the tubers in the pots until harvesting, move them under cover so that they are protected from frost.

[metalkitten]

Thanks for the replies.  I really hope I at least get some spuds from these plants.  It was stupid of me not to protect them from the frost (although none had been expected quite so soon) but I was probably put off by the fact that they were labelled as 'Christmas potatoes' and so I rather naively assumed they would be able to weather the cold!

I assume it's too late in the year to start planting any spuds now?

[spot1986]

Yes, it is too late. Do take a look at your spuds though, they may well be Ok. Where you are I would say to plant your spuds from mid March to mid May. Christmas ones in July!

[metalkitten]

The winter ones were planted in July, and if I'd only protected them from the frost they would have been dandy. I don't have a shed or a green house so I'd need to just use fleece.  The summer ones will be ace though.

Cheers 

[metalkitten]

I lifted the spuds from one of the barrels on saturday, and got a fairly decent haul - which tasted absolutely delicious.  Hopefully the other barrel will stay good til next weekend.