Category: Maincrop

The Potato Diaries #2

Published on by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden1 Comment

25 March 2021

With warmer days towards the end of March, the potatoes are sprouting well.

It will soon be time to choose the best three or four shoots on each and remove the remainder – perhaps this is where I’ve gone wrong in previous years, by assuming the more shoots the better. (NOTE: I didn’t remove any shoots as they’d not grown many more than shown in these pictures)

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The Potato Diaries #1 2021

Published on by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden9 Comments

7th February

I find myself in the enviable position of still eating 2020’s Pink Fir Apple potatoes (2 bags left) while simultaneously trying to chit and plan for 2021. I ordered 1.5 kg each of Anya (second earlies) and Red Duke of York (first earlies) potatoes on 6th January and they arrived on 4th February. After a few days of quarantine, I got round to unpacking them.

I didn’t quite realise how many potatoes would make up 1.5 kg: I only have room for eight of each in the allotment bed, but I can manage a few pots at home too, along with some more Pink Fir Apples (I’ve saved some of the smaller potatoes to use as seed potatoes. I haven’t bought any first or second earlies this year, so will use those grown in pots as new potatoes, and dig the others as required later in the year.

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The Final Potato Diaries 2020: mid-August to October

Published on by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden

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This is all the potatoes there were in the first green bag. A disappointing harvest but not perhaps unexpected as these were in the shady part of the patio and first to be hit by cold winds and wet weather. I didn’t weigh the first crop, but the second weighs just 160 grammes. But it’s enough to add to a stir-fry for tea.

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The Potato Diaries: 2020 – January to May

Published on by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden2 Comments

24th January

Seed potatoes are already appearing in garden centres now the Christmas decorations have finally been removed.

With my new allotment bed now available for the coming year, I have decided to plant early potatoes – Swift for preference – in containers at home, and main-crop potatoes – Desiree once more – at the allotment, where I have room for sixteen plants using the Square Foot gardening technique. I don’t think I’ll bother with second earlies this year.

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Swift are on the left and Desiree on the right.  I ‘rescued’ this polystyrene tray from the packaging on the top of my new washing machine and thought it would be ideal for chitting the potatoes.  Continue reading “The Potato Diaries: 2020 – January to May” →

The (Final) Potato Diaries of 2019

Published on by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden

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August 

In this post, I mentioned that I’d seen a post about planting potatoes to grow for Christmas.  I planted up three potato bags, with three tubers in each, using the compost remaining in my old green compost bin – 4 inches below and 4 inches above. I gave the bags a good soaking after placing them on the shady patio. Continue reading “The (Final) Potato Diaries of 2019” →

The Potato Diaries

Published on by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden

While we are still working our way through the pots of Swift first early potatoes (we’ve eaten the potatoes from two pots, have one nearly empty, and one not touched), with Nicola (one pot) and Desiree (two pots) to follow, thoughts turn to planting up some bags so we have new potatoes for Christmas.

20190814 (5) 20190814 (7)              Swift                                                 Desiree

I hadn’t thought of doing this (or that it was possible) until I read a post dated 7 August by Karen at Bramble Garden.  Thanks for the tip! Continue reading “The Potato Diaries” →