[DD.]

Hope you've dussted the .4 of a spud with flowers of sulphur! 

[New shoot]

Ay    That will be the mouldy little runt I had to chop the rot out of   

[Thrift]

Mine are chitting away for the last 3 weeks or so. Planting mid March if I have time.

Our Garden Centre has closed  so instead of my usual Orla earlies I could only get Duke of York and have no idea if they're good or not.

[annie b]

I've bought lady christl, rocket,pentland javelin, charlotte, anya and lady balfour this year. They've been chitting away for the last 5 weeks....

Now my problem is I'm going away  next Sunday for 4 weeks (wha hey!)...so do I wait til I come back to plant the potatoes or do I get digging and put them in next week?

[DD.]

Wait!

Better safe than sorry, end of Feb is way too early for us.

Mine didn't make it until May last year, OK they were a bit later,  but missed all the frosts. You'll still be a lot earlier than that.

[Kenilworth]

I might get banned for saying this  but im considering not growing spuds this year (or just growing in containers). My reason is I bought a sack of spuds for £3.50 the other day and they're good sized and tasty spuds. I know all the arguments about taste, freshness and food miles etc but doesn't all the hard work involved and precious space taken up make it a bit not worth it?
/me runs for cover 

Generally speaking i'm the same, we may do some earlies in a container or two just for the sake of it but not mains as we do have limited growing space as well and add in the fact i can buy a 25kg bag from the local farm for less than £4 it just doesnt seem worth it.

[Lady Rosemary]

still waiting for mine to arrive 

Same here Starry!  Where did you order yours from?  I got mine from Thompson & Morgan and I'm getting rather tetchy as I want to get chitting! 

[DD.]

Lady R.

Just for future reference, it's not a big drive for you, I go to Brookside nurseries at Cropston. No postage to pay, the seed spuds are cheaper, (£1.10 a kilo) and you can hand select what you want from nearly 100 varieties.

You'll easily save what you spend on petrol.

[AlistairMcLennan]

I have got charlotte seed potatoes chitting away, when would people suggest planting these out?  Just they seem to be chitting well so worried the eyes will be too long when I want them?

cheers

AL

[DD.]

No early than late March for me around these here parts.

If the chits are healthy and sturdy, they'll be OK for a few more weeks. Mine are only just showing and they've been set up since early January.

[annie b]

Wait!

Better safe than sorry, end of Feb is way too early for us.

Mine didn't make it until May last year, OK they were a bit later,  but missed all the frosts. You'll still be a lot earlier than that.

Right you are DD...that's one job less to worry about before I go away!

[jrko]

We (neighbouring lot) ordered from Kings Seeds and they were great.

I've got Pink Fir Apple, Rocket, Lady Balfour and Golden Wonder.  They've been in my bay window in various egg cartons for 4 weeks now and all but the Pink Firs are putting on good, short & fat sprouts.

I leave for the US late March.  Would 15-16th be ok for planting?

[DD.]

I guess you'd get away with that down south!

How long are you away for? You may be back before they come through so you can keep an eye out for late frosts.

[jrko]

we're back 4th April.  I'll speak to my lottie neighbours.  They are very good and we look out for each others plots during hols.  I'll dig the fleece out in advance just in case.

[AndyRVTR]

I've kept it down to 274 seed spuds this year.

Is that all your'e doing this year DD? 
I've managed to keep the numbers down to 304 this year, I was even looking at other varieties this morning...