[Lardman]

3 Spuds - £1.50   

Might need to have a rethink, does anyone grow main crop in 8x4 beds ? Interested in plant spacing and yield.

[mumofstig]

Before i got the plot I grew them in beds in the garden.
Planted 2 x 8ft rows of 6 spuds - still leaves a bit of room for earthing up from the middle

Yields were the same as in the ground IIRC.

[Trillium]

I grew some in 4x8 raised beds and they did okay. They do need heaps of manure though to do well and occasional water if it's dry out.  I put about 8 seed spuds per bed.

[arugula]

3 Spuds - £1.50   

I paid £2.50 for a bag of four pretty sad King Edward last week.  We've grown maincrops in beds that size and they've given a decent crop.

[sunshineband]

All our spuds are grown in beds 1.2m wide and I have four earlies to a row and three seconds or maincrops.

Same spacing between the rows down the bed, and this gives plenty of space for earthing up without any trouble.

They go in on a chunk of well rotted manure, with a few slug pellets, a foot deep.

Bood fish & bone spread around in the top couple of inches of soil too.

Need to water them if there is a dry spell around the time the tubers are swelling. A good soak once a week is enough (weather may give them mor eof coure   )

First earlies avoided blight but I spray second and maincrops monthly with bordeaux mix (not available after Feb I think, but there are others to use - Bayers make something)

Huge crops last year again -- does it fer me  

[savbo]

we don't grow maincrop as the site is quite sheltered so blight is often a problem. Having said that, we got blight on firsts and seconds anyway. But the Kestrel tubers were not as affected as the other varieties and we got good crops of big spuds...not everyone rates them but we like them, very versatile. like sunshine we do 3 to a row in 1.2m beds

[angelavdavis]

3 Spuds - £1.50   

Might need to have a rethink, does anyone grow main crop in 8x4 beds ? Interested in plant spacing and yield.

Yikes!  I grow mine in beds about that size, I space them 1ft apart in a row, with 2ft between rows.

I am trying seaweed on mine this year - a chap at our site swears by it to toughen up the plants against blight and keeled slugs.

[Willow_Warren]

Yep a jacket potato is a pricey meal these days!!!

So sad when my home grown ones finished - they made such lovely roasties & mash the quality from the supermarket is variable (not jackets though too small).

Our local farm shop sells sacks (I think 20kg) of Maris Pipers & other varities for £10, unwashed.  Seems better value than the supermarket!

Hannah

[The Golden Heap]

3 Spuds - £1.50    

Might need to have a rethink, does anyone grow main crop in 8x4 beds ? Interested in plant spacing and yield.

Yikes!  I grow mine in beds about that size, I space them 1ft apart in a row, with 2ft between rows.

I am trying seaweed on mine this year - a chap at our site swears by it to toughen up the plants against blight and keeled slugs.

I echo this same spacing done very last year


edit to clarify quote

[Lardman]

Our local farm shop sells sacks (I think 20kg) of Maris Pipers & other varities for £10, unwashed.  Seems better value than the supermarket!

I can pick up a bag of Wilja (the local spud) pretty cheap but I've noticed over the years they're getting very small, by the time they've been in the microwave they're bite sized.

I've only got 2 beds free but I think it might be worth a try, I eat far more Jacket spuds than I do courgettes.

[Willow_Warren]

I eat far more Jacket spuds than I do courgettes.

Love it 

I think this year 50% or my veg patch will acutally be dedicated to potatoes, it seems a lot but it's something that we really eat and didn't seem to take too much care last year... (I'm a busy lady you know   )

What I will do next year I don't know (crop rotation blah.. blah.. blah...)

Hannah