[Ema]

I wasn't going to bother much with main crop spuds but I got sucked in at the potato day and came away with 4 varieties. Should I keep my sarpos separate to my other spud crops to give them a better chance?

Has anyone grown these recently are they tasty?

[sunshineband]

I grew Sarpo Mira last year and they were just fine. Plenty of flavour

They were in the same raised bed as the rest of my maincrops, but in separate rows (crossways not longways)

I donpt mix them uo completely as some varieties have taller foliage than others and shorter ones can get swamped a bit

Hope that helps

[Ema]

Thanks SB dont really want to keep them elsewhere as I'm quite keen to keep a simple strict ish crop rotation. I gues if I do a row of SM then then my earlies, 2nds and then the rest of my mains that might be enough of a separation alhought I'll probably green manure the middle once the earlies and 2nds are out which might be a little odd

[sunshineband]

That sounds fine Ema

Have you thought though that is you put your firsts at the end of the bed, you will have space to grow something else there once you have taken them out?

Leeks perhaps, or lettuce, radishes or even a sowing of carrots?

You could erect a temporary 'fence' of canes and string to hold the seconds' foliage up off that section if you needed to

[Ema]

I have thought that but I'm having a 10x15meter plot for myself and my boyfriend and I'm not sure we we'll be able to cultivate the whole thing this year as he's quite busy doing a masters at the mo. I guess it would be good ground to use though

[sunshineband]

Time you have sectioned the plot off with paths I hope you will find you can cultivate it all this year, Ema 


Potatoes are not high maintainance: once they are earthed up they need very little more work. Until of course you have to dig them up 

[Ema]

In my head and a bit on paper Ive allocated 1/4 to spuds this year and brought exactly enough for the space, hoping to just rotivate the existing grass and plantain in this area and then plonk the spuds in.

I've allocated 1/4 to soft fruit (annoyingly the existing soft fruit on the plot is in the wrong place).

The other 1/2 I'm hoping to put some 1.2*4m beds in allowing for some jeruselum and globe artichoke boundaries. These beds I'm not sure I'll manage to dig and weed all of them this spring, by summer they should be done but if there not I'm just gonna throw some oats on them for my bunnies to have as winter forage.

[sunshineband]

Hope you don't mind me mentioning Ema, that if you rotovate in grass and plantain, you will get a whole lot of... grass and plantain growing healthily 


You can skim it off with a spade and stack it in a corner, covered with plastic and it will rot down to make decent loam to use.

Jerusalem artichokes are a kind of 'forever' plant, which is brilliant if you love them. Which I assume you do as otherwise you wouldn't grow them.

It is not too late to move soft fruit to where you would prefer it to be - -- nice to inherit this though 

It just needs to stop raining long enough to get out and do something now.......

[Ema]

depending on time and how many helpers I can rope in I would love to dig the grass and plantain out its not too heavy as it looks like it was used last year but if I really don't have time and can't borrow a rotavator then I'm thinking on just using a bulb planter and moving the worst of the weeds next to the hole.

[sunshineband]

Better than rotovating imho Ema

Sometimes people cover weedy ground with membrane or heavy cardboard (both well eighed down of course) and plant their potatoes through holes in it, as you suggest, using  abulb planter. Saves the weeds multiplying nd saves earthing up.

I've not done this myself but it does sound as though a decent crop can be grown like this

Hope you can find lots of willing hands for a potato planting party