Grow Your Own Magazine

I have 4 large pots of potatoes in my unheated greenhouse. Can anyone tell me when I should consider digging some up. Some articles say after they have flowered, others say they don't always flower, and some say after they die back naturally. I would like to have new potatoes, not large old ones.

Hello and welcome to the vine.

What type of potatoes are they and when did you plant them?

There are lots of threads on here relating to potato times but basically if you have planted first earlies they will be around 12 weeks to harvest, maincrop are a few weeks longer. However, the best way to find out if the spud size suits your requirements is to carefully take the plants out of the container and see what size the potatoes are. If you are clever you can put the plant back if the spuds aren't big enough. If they have reached the size you want them kept at, cut off the foliage and leave the potatoes buried till you want to use them. That way, you can have freshly dug spuds with Christmas dinner.

Hope that helps you some.

__________________
Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Christmas dinner was what I had in mind. I don't know what variety, as the first lots succumbed to blight, a couple or three months ago. These were some that I had bought from a supermarket that had started to sprout, and decided to "have a go" to see what happened. Thanks very much for the reply
Barbara

No problem, your best bet is the have a look and see what's there method then Have fun.

I am worried that mine are suffering blight even now! Will probably end up buying my baby spuds for Christmas dinner!!

__________________
Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk