[davidmw]

Hi,  when is the best time to plant potatos out up in Yorkshire.  Mine are already chitting and will be ready in about 3 weeks or so i reckon

[JayG]

Mid to late March is fine, but be guided by the weather and soil conditions at the time rather than the state of your chits (if they are chitting in good conditions a delay of a few weeks is neither here nor there.)

[compostqueen]

I don't even have any spuds yet and I'm just down the road. Remember that spuds can get damaged by frost. In your neck of the woods you'll be getting frost til possibly the second week in June, so I would be in no hurry to plant spuds. Traditionally the main crops get planted on Good Friday, which is 22 April this year.  I started planting some earlies on 27th March but I did some later on 11th April. Main crops were planted on 10th April - I just checked back in my notes  

 

[DD.]

I don't agree with the Easter planting dates guideline as it can vary by up to 4 weeks and the weather necessarily does not do so to follow suit.

Late March/Early April does me, yet had I followed that last year I'd have had a lot of severe frost damage in June.

[Kristen]

I don't agree with the Easter platnting dates guideline as it can vary by up to 4 weeks

Its worse than that I think ... a day short of 5 weeks I think

[JayG]

It's true that late frosts can mess things up, especially if you've run out of soil to earth them up.

I'm going to try Mum's technique (apologies to those who think it was their great grandad who first told them about it!) of planting in a trench which will then give you more soil to earth up with. 

[RichardA]

Late March but be prepared to cover with insulating material or earth if shoots come through and a frost is predicted.

R

[mumofstig]

Re Easter dates, this will be the first year since 1900 that Easter Sunday has fallen on 24th April, and it will not do so again until 2095.

It can be any date from 23rd March and 25th April. Both points taken from tables here

http://www.gmarts.org/index.php?go=413

[DD.]

Main point being it's not a fixed date to be guided by, unlike St. Patrick's day.

[bigben]

I planted on Saint Patricks day last year in Sheffield and lost half a row of spuds to frost. I was able to cover what I had in pots but did not get to my allotment to cover what was growing there. This year I plan on planting early April.

[DD.]

St Patrick's day is still only a guide, when all's said and done, you can't predict what the weather's like when they come up.

I got away with it last year as I was ill and nothing got planted until May. Best ever maincrop I'd had!