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Planting First Earley Potatoes
No expert
Posts: 415
in Fruit & veg
Sharpes Express planted to-day under perspex roof light with glass panels at each end so as not create a wind tunnell. Also planted some outside. Everything then covered with hessian for frost protection.
We're off and running in the 2014 spud season.
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Our Rockets and Maris Pipers went in last weekend. Don't know why the Maris Piper maincrop said to go in early March but the King Edwards Mid to Late April?? Presume slower growing.
We had a frost this morning and I was scaping frost of the car wind screen yesterday, me thinks I'll wait a little longer before planting out, it's tempting though.
We'll get frost till May Day at least so I'll have to use frost protection any way so might as well get started. All Sharpes were chitted for a few week so hopefully they will come in a bit before the end of June. home guard still to sow by Monday.
Lovely set up there No Expert. Soil looks great!
Black silty type. Gets very wet during heavy rain but this area was covered by the perspex sheet so it is fine.
Also it is a little on the Alkaline side, used some of my compost which has a large proportion of FYM in it plus a little potatoe manure.
The time when frost matters is when the potatoes grow leaves out of the ground. If you plant too early and the leaves are up before the frosts have finished they will go black.
If I was to wait for the threat of frost then I'd get no first earlies in at all.
Frost blankets at the ready. It's a bit of bother but it is gardening and I've waited a long time to much of that.
here in North Devon, I planted out all my chitted spuds on Sunday. Despite tons of rain and heavy clay, they soil rotovated well on Saturday.
...but they'll recover, and possibly grow quicker than the late starters. Or will they? I've only had this happen once, and I'm itching to get my Pentland Javelin in. And Kestrel.....etc etc.
Which reminds me, I put the PJ in the greenhouse to chit a few weeks ago and although there are signs of growth the shoots are still tiny. Could it be too warm in there?
My gut feeling is that there won't be too many late frosts if the jet stream continues on its current path where it is sweeping up from the south-west. Haven't heard that there is any expectation of a change in its course. This comment will probably come back to haunt me - famous last words!