Earliest first early potatoes?

[Derry]

im growing my spuds in pots, and me being the numpty that i am filled the pot up with compost, so theres no room to earth them up anyway =/

[Odsox]

the problem is that they were growing in bone dry soil - earthing up means the rain can't penetrate the soil as it just runs off so they have scab already. Going to get the seep hoses set up later this afternoon (in the rain!!!) to get some water through.

What I used to do when I lived in a dry place was to mulch between the rows with grass mowings.
It's a bit late now, but I also put grass mowings in the trenches before putting the taters in. (age old cure for scab )

[Millymollymandy]

Hi Tony, I thought you currently lived in a dry place! Thanks for those tips - one year I mulched with straw but that was really hard work getting it in between the rows plus it didn't really work because that was such a dry summer that the soil was already dry.

We've had about 17mm more rain since I dug my spuds up yesterday so I will check how much that has soaked in then probably just try to water with a watering can down under the leaves, will take a bit of time but so would getting the seep hose out at this late stage.

Spuds weren't brilliant (Oceania) but they were a freebie from the garden centre and are nice and floury so should be good for roasting and baking etc.

[Odsox]

Hi Tony, I thought you currently lived in a dry place!

Not really MMM, it's more a case of being an unpredictable microclimate here.
It can (and often does) rain all day a mile or two inland, but stay totally dry here.
But then it often happens the other way round too.

I'm growing Home Guard first earlies (half of them eaten now), Sarpo Mira and Sarpo Axona.
It will be interesting to see what the Sarpo are like, last year I grew Mira which were claimed to be floury but mine were extremely waxy.
Axona are supposed to be even more floury, so we will see. I also want roasting ones, so I hope they are floury.

[Millymollymandy]

I've never heard of any of them - do you get different varieties in Ireland than in the UK? Obviously our French ones are different too apart from Desiree which I think everyone can get.

Anyway good news finally after about 40mm rain my earthed up bits are nearly all wet through!!! Didn't get much more rain today although lots was forecasted then there should be more tomorrow and after that - blessedly dry . Neither my garden nor waterbutts need any more rain and the family are here on hols so we want it to stop now please!

[Odsox]

I've never heard of any of them - do you get different varieties in Ireland than in the UK? Obviously our French ones are different too apart from Desiree which I think everyone can get.

Home Guard is an old English variety dating from WW2 ... hence the name, and as far as I'm concerned is by far the best tasting early that I've come across.
The two Sarpo varieties are relatively new ones from Hungary that are resistant to blight.

I think we both had the same weather system yesterday, here we had a gentle rain that last about 24 hours and deposited a very welcomed 35mm over my thirsty garden.
Today it's sunny again.

[Millymollymandy]

I want sunshine - we've had 5 days of rain which is pretty unusual for here at this time of year. I can SEE the weeds growing, I really can! Anyway hope it didn't bring any blight......

[Jandra]

I've never earthed up. Just put the seed potatoes about 20 cm deep and away they grow. Good yield imho and hardly a green potato, come harvest time, so I never understood the need for earthing up.

Next year perhaps you could try a small patch without earthing up and see if it makes any difference.

Jandra

[Millymollymandy]

Thanks Jandra that's good to hear. When you plant them that deep, do you cover them up with 20cm of soil straight away or do it in stages (like earthing up, but filling in the hole, if you see what I mean!)? This is what I was thinking of trying next year.

[Millymollymandy]

I dug up one of my other variety of spuds - both are 2nd earlies - but all I got were 3 littlies that were big enough to bother cooking. Yet the other variety are giving me baking size spuds already!

[Jandra]

MMM,
I just put them in, no slowly filling the hole. They take a bit longer to emerge than those on my neighbour's plot, but so far all have always made an appearance and thrived.

This year I planted some very (!) shallowly under a black polythene weed control stuff. That is on a piece of plot that I've never been able to tame, weed-wise. So I figuered I'd cover it for the grwong season, but then thought how nice it would be if it were also productive. So I forked over the planting 'holes' before putting the cover over the soil , carved x-shaped holes in the cover and put down some store-bought potatoes which had sprouted. Did the same trick with several pumpkin plants, which are now romping away nicely. Except for the one which got eaten by snails...

Jandra

[Millymollymandy]

Thanks Jandra - I think deep planting is what I'll try next year. Have you looked under the polythene yet to see what's happening?