Too late for early spuds?

[Nurseygreen]

Hi all,

I only picked up the keys to my plot last week and have been away for a wedding the last few days so haven't yet had a chance to start.
I was hoping to grow potato's but haven't bought/chitted any yet. Is it too late to buy and chit first earlies? Should I just skip straight to second earlies and main crop?

Thank you!

[Bigmallly]

You are not too late to start chitting earlies & even if they don't chit, they can still be planted. It's too early to plant them just yet, best wait till after your last frost. Some folk use Good Friday or St Patricks Day as a guide for planting. 1st Earlies, 2nd Earlies & Maincrop all are planted at the same time, they just take longer to mature.

[WendyC]

No plenty of time for buying potatoes. Early refers to how long they take to crop rather than when they are planted. Without knowing where you are, I 'd say you have at least a month before planting starts. Potatoes don't need to be chitted to grow.

[Nurseygreen]

Brilliant, thank you! I'm in Portsmouth so generally pretty mild!

[Bigmallly]

Copycat...............

[Coopers]

So glad to see this question and answers. I was under the impression i needed to do earlies next couple of weeks. Glad to see its not the case

[noviceveggrower]

I usually plant mine end of March. Most frosts have finished but if a frost is due then I just put some fleece to protect them.

[Nurseygreen]

I just need to decide what varieties to grow now then!

[Guest]

You are not too late to start chitting earlies & even if they don't chit, they can still be planted. It's too early to plant them just yet, best wait till after your last frost. Some folk use Good Friday or St Patricks Day as a guide for planting. 1st Earlies, 2nd Earlies & Maincrop all are planted at the same time, they just take longer to mature.

When do you plant lates? yes, its been a long time since I have grown spuds

[Bigmallly]

When do you plant lates? yes, its been a long time since I have grown spuds

At the same time as the earlies.................................around Good Friday. Which this year is 3rd April. You could go for the other option - St Patricks Day which this year is 17th March. Or you could just pick a date between the two.......................the main thing is protection from frost whenever you plant them.

[Guest]

At the same time as the earlies................around Good Friday. Which this year is 3rd April. You could go for the other option - St Patricks Day which this year is 17th March. Or you could just pick a date between the two........the main thing is protection from frost whenever you plant them.

TY BM you panicked me then. So bung 'em all in when I can be arrissed is still the plan
Ok it is a bit more detailed - spuds look well chitted and weather is picking up

[Kristen]

IF you had some first early seed tubers (i.e. now), and a suitable container (12" diameter or so, there are "bags" available for growing spuds in so that's also an option) and IF you had somewhere frost free (conservatory / greenhouse) to grow them in, then you could start them now (I've been chitting mine for a few weeks and planted them a few days ago, they are in my boiler room, toasty warm but not well lit, so they get a wiggle on, and when they break the surface I'll move them to the conservatory - it will be a couple of weeks before the leaves appear on the surface, so it will be March already).

With apologies to BigMally, don't pay any heed to Good Friday. In olden times the only day that agricultural workers got off to get their vegetable patches into productive order, for the coming season, was Easter so they planted on Good Friday. But Good Friday moves by something like 6 weeks, from earliest date to latest, hence why I suggest you ignore it (unless Easter IS the only time you get off!!)

If you plant early there is risk that you will have to cover them if you get a late Frost. Down in Portsmouth that's probably not a high risk, so you may want to plant early-ish. You could plant, say, half a dozen early-ish, and the rest a couple of weeks later, then you've only got to cover the 6 planted early if you get a late frost. You'll have 6 plants to dig up and eat when you want them for the kitchen, by which time (unless you eat a lot of spuds!) the later planted ones will be ready.

[Bigmallly]

No need for apologies Kristen, I totally agree that's why emphasised on protecting them from frost whenever they get planted.