Hi I'm new to this veg growing lark, tried some toms last year which came out well , I bought some new potatoes to try - charlotte which I think seem to be popular, any advice would be appreciated, was hoping to grow in big pots/buckets - how many seed pots per bucket? and how do i know when their ready... is it a case of rummage around in the pot and hope for the best? Help !!!
I visited a neighbours greenhouse on the allotment. He showed me plants(sweetcorn) which had been eaten by mice. He therefore covered up the rest of the plants and put plastic trays on top of plastic trays. When he went to show me his potatoes by lifting a tray a mouse shot out. These trays were sitting on shelving a metre high. All the potatoes had been chewed away. All new to me. I am just glad I do not have a greenhouse and am having to grow plants in my kitchen. sally (first month of allotment ownership.)
We were told by an elderly man to dose our soil with Jeyes fluid to get rid of keel slugs etc which got into our potatos last year, do you think this is safe to use?
To all those potato growers, I have planted many seeded supermarket potatoes with great success, especially charlotte potatoes.
Most recently I have begun laying down a few layers of newspapers in the potato beds before lying the seed potatoes on top and another layer of paper on top. this works very well in both feeding them and keeping them cleaner and they tend to be bigger.
Please don't fool yourselves that Roundup is safe or biodegradable. Where these claims have been challenged in court (eg in the state of New York) the manufacturer has had to stop describing it as "biodegradable" or "environmentally friendly". Research has found it to persist in soil for a considerable time. It has been found to be toxic to many life forms and has been implicated in appalling health effects in communities that live near sprayed fields. Please do research before using chemicals and don't rely on advertising (the label on the bottle) for the truth.
My potatoes were planted early March and are now over a meter tall with small flowers appearing. I thought they should be ready by now but I had a rummage (they are planted in large plastic pots) yesterday to find two the size of peas! Have I done something wrong/do they take longer? I piled up the soil to protect the crop from sunlight a few times over the weeks until it got to the top of the containers.
I tried potatoes in tyres and for someone with limited space it was good for some nice summer new pots but not many. I think the problem was - to water or not - too much and they rot - too little and you don't get a good crop. any ideas as to when to water and how much?
My now very tall potato plants have keeled over, although I have been earthing them up regularly. They haven't flowered yet and are proving difficult to stake, any suggestions very welcome!
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All new to me. I am just glad I do not have a greenhouse and am having to grow plants in my kitchen.
sally (first month of allotment ownership.)
Most recently I have begun laying down a few layers of newspapers in the potato beds before lying the seed potatoes on top and another layer of paper on top. this works very well in both feeding them and keeping them cleaner and they tend to be bigger.