Potatoes Made Easy

[basketcase]

I'm confused about successional planting earlies, rather than a mixture of 'timings'.

Do you buy all the seed potatoes at once and then plant them at intervals or what? If so, do they keep OK? (Being thick, I know)

[northepaul]

Pink Fir Apples and Anyas

Hi,
Sowing my ignorance and confusion here. I ordered from Pink Fir Apple potatoes recently from a supplier.
I thought they were a maincrop spud?
Today received Anya spuds as the company have run out of pink firs, in the notice it says they have replaced one salad potato with another?
I thought salad crops were the earlies?

[Snadger]

60/6=5.............

Are you leaving the rest at home then?.......

Just testing playmates.....glad to see you are taking notice!

[maytreefrannie]

We have a small section of the garden which has loads of ivy roots, bindweed and creeping buttercup. Is it OK to use this for potatoes?

I may put a raised bed there - is it necessary to cover the ground with cardboard or something and then build up the raised bed with new soil/compost?

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.

[tattieman]

Thanks Tattieman I didn't realise you posted on the forums, next time round (or even later this time, we'll see!) I'll support you by ordering from you.. Thanks for all the help you offer

No problem my friend as my advice is free

A forced experiment for this year....

Last year I only grew four varieties, and it isn't hard to tell maris Piper from PFA from Desiree from King Eds, both before planting and after harvest.... this year I'm growing about 15 varieties so to avoid the problem of wondering which seed is which, all the low-count stuff I've already got I've just written the variety on them with a marker pen......

chrisc

It will be handy if the tubers grown from them grow with the names on aswell

I'm confused about successional planting earlies, rather than a mixture of 'timings'.

Do you buy all the seed potatoes at once and then plant them at intervals or what? If so, do they keep OK? (Being thick, I know)

Yes many people will split their earlies into 3 batches spaced maybe 2 weeks apart so that they are not ready all at once.

Hi,
Sowing my ignorance and confusion here. I ordered from Pink Fir Apple potatoes recently from a supplier.
I thought they were a maincrop spud?
Today received Anya spuds as the company have run out of pink firs, in the notice it says they have replaced one salad potato with another?
I thought salad crops were the earlies?

There is nothing the same as PFA but Anya is the offspring of it and is a second early. Salad potatoes normally mean that they have a waxy texture and can be either earlies,second earlies or maincrops.

[basketcase]

Thanks for getting back, Tattieman.

Incidentally, I'm with chrismarks about ordering from you. I know you give the advice for free (many thanks) but that's not the point - it's good advice!

Also I'm in Aberdeen, so tatties from Scotland would surely be better suited to my climate. Or doesn't it matter?

ETA -

"It will be handy if the tubers grown from them grow with the names on as well"

you mean they DON'T have their names on them??!!

[tattieman]

Thanks for getting back, Tattieman.

Incidentally, I'm with chrismarks about ordering from you. I know you give the advice for free (many thanks) but that's not the point - it's good advice!

Also I'm in Aberdeen, so tatties from Scotland would surely be better suited to my climate. Or doesn't it matter?

ETA -

"It will be handy if the tubers grown from them grow with the names on as well"

you mean they DON'T have their names on them??!!

It would be great for some people if they grew with the name on so they can read it when they harvest them. Maybe that is something that could be developed in the future

If you are in Scotland I would only recommend seed that has the words BASIC SEED on the bag as this means it is the top grade.

I have a 4 page spread in another magazine which you all might find interesting to read. I will mention no names.

[braders]

My Maris Peer are getting anxious to be planted...I hope this weather turns for the better soon..!!

[chriscross1966]

Hi,
Sowing my ignorance and confusion here. I ordered from Pink Fir Apple potatoes recently from a supplier.
I thought they were a maincrop spud?
Today received Anya spuds as the company have run out of pink firs, in the notice it says they have replaced one salad potato with another?
I thought salad crops were the earlies?

Ooh, that's a bit of a bum... though to be fair there are few other potatoes they could have used, I guess Ratte, but that's about it for the primitive form salads in general cultivation and widely available. PFA's are quite a late maincrop but their trick is to carry on tasting like a new potato even after months in storage. Just cos somethings an early doesn't mean it will be good for salads, it'll just be ready to harvest quickly.... That said a lot of earlies are salad potatoes because they come through in the summer, so there was a good commercial reason for a lot of earlies to be salads, there's far less call for an early baking potato, similarly PFA is almost unique in being a salad spud that turns up in the autumn..... but it does make a fabulous roasty too

chrisc

[basketcase]

It would be great for some people if they grew with the name on so they can read it when they harvest them. Maybe that is something that could be developed in the future

If you are in Scotland I would only recommend seed that has the words BASIC SEED on the bag as this means it is the top grade.

I have a 4 page spread in another magazine which you all might find interesting to read. I will mention no names.

Thanks for the advice.

Will PM you re the Other Thing...

[galiano]

Question for Tattieman

I'm on Vancouver Island off the west coast of Canada but potatoes are potatoes ( I think )

Here's my question :

Most of my vegetable garden is in raised beds. Wanting a potato patch, last season I dug up part of our lawn and planted potatoes. We had an excellent crop of 4 different varieties. The problem I have is that this is the only place on our property to grow potatoes. I understand that it's best to rotate crops but if I do this it will be a few years before we can grow potatoes again. If I plant in the same spot will I be in for lots of problems ?

[tattieman]

I'm on Vancouver Island off the west coast of Canada but potatoes are potatoes ( I think )

Here's my question :

Most of my vegetable garden is in raised beds. Wanting a potato patch, last season I dug up part of our lawn and planted potatoes. We had an excellent crop of 4 different varieties. The problem I have is that this is the only place on our property to grow potatoes. I understand that it's best to rotate crops but if I do this it will be a few years before we can grow potatoes again. If I plant in the same spot will I be in for lots of problems ?

Yes could could plant in the same patch again but it would be better to rotate after the second crop otherwise you could get problems with a build up of disease. You will need to add plenty of feeding to the soil as potatoes are hungry feeders and they will have used all the goodnes from the area.
Why not grow some potatoes in containers and then you can put them anywhere you like. My videos will show you what I mean.

[Rocketron]

I wonder if any other grapes have the same concern as me?
What yield per potato, should we be looking for?
Earlies, Second Earlies and Maincrop.
I have the feeling I expect too much.

No-one able to help with this ?

[zazen999]

No-one able to help with this ?

I thought I'd replied - perhaps someone else had asked it on another thread.

Anyhow - yield will depend on so many things; the soil, when they go in, when they come out, the space they have, any fertiliser added etc etc etc. Have a look at Tattieman's blog and videos to see how much comes out of one of his bags; I think somewhere on there is some idea of yield.....

[tattieman]

I have just added a short video of how to select the best eyes to chit on your potatoes. I have cut it off at the end half a second too soon so the last word is TOP.