Oh Dan, I was at the Garden Centre in Brigg yesterday morning, and sure enough, bags of seed potatoes at 50p a pop. You probably live nowhere near Brigg. Most people don't live anywhere near Brigg. We have flowers on our Rocket potatoes, and the King Edwards that 'over-chitted' because I had nowhere to put them, are just pushing up rosettes of leaves that could be earthed up now. The Rockets can come up at the end of June and the King Eds in September and the Maris Pipers somewhere in between. Hope you found some seed somewhere!!
No I live in Durham, went to a few places today and managed to find some going a bit cheaper in homebase, however not 50p but ??1.99. Just got the 1 pack to start me off and will plant tomorrow when I'm off work.
£1.99 sounds a bit steep for end of May. But it will be what you make of it - they will probably give you more potatoes than you would get for £1.99 in the supermarkets, so nothing lost, only gained - much better tasting, and you can plant earlier next year. Maybe we have it easy price-wise here.
Some potatoes (my Charlotte, for instance) don't seem to flower much but the potatoes may still be ready even without/before flowers. The best thing is to put your hand gently into the soil and have a bit of a grope around. If you find any that seem suitably potato-sized, pull them out and you can start to eat them. If not, leave them a bit longer. I do this for a week or two before I pull up any whole plants, thus giving the rest of the spuds a chance to carry on growing.
Don't worry too much about the planting dates. This year mine are way ahead of where they were last year, and I'm planning to have an exploratory furtle around in the soil in a week or so, even thought there are no flowers yet.
I was behind a tractor which had a trailer FULL of potatoes yesterday (most annoyingly after my initial feeling of being impressed as it was a narrow country road!)
I think mine are a way off yet as I planted mine later than you.
thanks no expert, I'll be having a rummage around one of the bags in the next day or so. I'll be glad to be rid of the bags to be honest, they've truly taken over my patio!
I've just got an allotment and boss man there says there's still time for potatoes so I chucked some in on Sunday. I'm hoping to get some more in next weekend but they'll be "earlies" I think
a lady at the site gave me some as a welcome gift. I've never tasted potatoes so lovely. That's me hooked, just after one meal lol
I never pay top price for seed potatoes. Last year at B&Q, 10p a bag. This year at Tesco, 20p a bag. Always get at end of buying season and have had really good crops. I don't worry about how late it is to plant as they always start growing quickly. I have left harvesting till late autumn/winter, dug them up as and when needed and had some good size potatoes.
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Oh Dan, I was at the Garden Centre in Brigg yesterday morning, and sure enough, bags of seed potatoes at 50p a pop. You probably live nowhere near Brigg. Most people don't live anywhere near Brigg. We have flowers on our Rocket potatoes, and the King Edwards that 'over-chitted' because I had nowhere to put them, are just pushing up rosettes of leaves that could be earthed up now. The Rockets can come up at the end of June and the King Eds in September and the Maris Pipers somewhere in between. Hope you found some seed somewhere!!
Thanks for the advice
£1.99 sounds a bit steep for end of May. But it will be what you make of it - they will probably give you more potatoes than you would get for £1.99 in the supermarkets, so nothing lost, only gained - much better tasting, and you can plant earlier next year. Maybe we have it easy price-wise here.
Well done Dan just get them in the ground asap amd they will be fine.
Fruitcake pick them when the flowers die back. Start with the earlies if you have any'
Some potatoes (my Charlotte, for instance) don't seem to flower much but the potatoes may still be ready even without/before flowers. The best thing is to put your hand gently into the soil and have a bit of a grope around. If you find any that seem suitably potato-sized, pull them out and you can start to eat them. If not, leave them a bit longer. I do this for a week or two before I pull up any whole plants, thus giving the rest of the spuds a chance to carry on growing.
Don't worry too much about the planting dates. This year mine are way ahead of where they were last year, and I'm planning to have an exploratory furtle around in the soil in a week or so, even thought there are no flowers yet.
Had my first feed from my potted, pots last Sunday.
Lovely spuds David
I was behind a tractor which had a trailer FULL of potatoes yesterday (most annoyingly after my initial feeling of being impressed as it was a narrow country road!)
I think mine are a way off yet as I planted mine later than you.
thanks no expert, I'll be having a rummage around one of the bags in the next day or so. I'll be glad to be rid of the bags to be honest, they've truly taken over my patio!
I've just got an allotment and boss man there says there's still time for potatoes so I chucked some in on Sunday. I'm hoping to get some more in next weekend but they'll be "earlies" I think
a lady at the site gave me some as a welcome gift. I've never tasted potatoes so lovely. That's me hooked, just after one meal lol
I never pay top price for seed potatoes. Last year at B&Q, 10p a bag. This year at Tesco, 20p a bag. Always get at end of buying season and have had really good crops. I don't worry about how late it is to plant as they always start growing quickly. I have left harvesting till late autumn/winter, dug them up as and when needed and had some good size potatoes.