I should have asked ..

[Florence Fennel]

... before I lifted my spuds. Never grown in the ground before. I've waited patiently for the haulms to either flower or die down and as they showed no signs of either and despite being in the ground since April, I could wait no longer and dug them up today. I dug out a lot of halves until I finally learned how to dig around the plants to harvest whole potatoes. They are International Kidney and although there were only 4 or 5 per plant they are big. I expected there to be more than that and quite small. It's a learning curve.

[bearded bloke]

Go over the area again with a border fork Flo,you may be surprised at how many small one can fall between the tines

[Florence Fennel]

I did and there were none BB. The whole bed is now dug, de-stoned and raked ready for the red sprouts. Think I'll stick to container growing for spuds. I can grow more greens in the space I used for potatoes.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Hi Flo,

good that you have managed to get a crop but 4 or 5 per plant is a poor return for the work. Spuds need a lot of feeding and a goodly ration of fym beneath the tubers and a handful of granular fertiliser should do the trick. The fym also helps keep the moisture. I lifted a couple of stems of spuds yesterday, red Duke of York and Home Guard, a variety I have never grown before. Both yielded over 20 good sized tubers. Remember as well that even early potatoes need at least 10 - 12 weeks in the ground. I'd have another go in the ground