Thursday 7 May 2015

Final planting of potatoes

On Bank Holiday Monday I planted my last potatoes of the year. They were the four "Pink Fir Apple" ones, which are early Maincrops. They will probably mature in late September.

I am hoping that we have had our last frost of the year, because the potatoes that were in the mini-greenhouses have outgrown their accommodation!


The greenhouse on the left has the First Earlies ("Winston" and "Annabelle") in it still, but their foliage is so tall now that the zip-up lid won't close. The greenhouse on the right (which formerly hosted the "Charlottes") has been emptied of potatoes and is now being used as overnight accommodation for Tomato plants.

My garden is now crammed with pots of potatoes at various stages:


At the far end are the "Charlottes", which have the biggest foliage at this point in time.


These are "Balmoral", whose foliage is currently neat and compact.


This is one of the Sarpo varieties, planted only the other day, and just peeping through the compost for the first time.


I have deliberately lined-up the potato-containers in a double row so that I will be able to quickly cover them with a run of fleece if frost is forecast. I bought 10 metres of fleece just in case, but it hasn't been needed yet. It's a fairly inexpensive "insurance policy" though - only 59p a metre.

Did you notice the timber for my next raised bed in one of the photos? I have been putting it to good use as a windbreak to protect my little Tomato seedlings.


I'm hoping to be able to pot-up at least some of the Tomatoes next weekend, but it all depends on the weather. With a bit of luck the wind will subside. We have had such a lot of windy weather this year!

5 comments:

  1. Your potatoes are further along than mine. I've still got the last few to go in containers, and some at the allotment too. The foliage of the ones already planted up hasn't reached the tops of the containers yet. Mine have been outdoors without protection from the beginning, there just isn't room in my tiny greenhouse for them. Good idea to put the timber to use in this way. My tomato plants are doing well. I'd like to get some in position in the greenhouse but there wouldn't be room in there for the others then and it's too cold still here for them to be planted outdoors just yet.

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  2. Your patio has been overrun with lumber. I like that you are using it as a wind break. We were having some nasty winds last month, but this month seems to be much nicer so far. Now if the weather wouldn't get over 80F for a while I'd be all set with my greens. I'm just never satisfied. Hmm and a bit of rain would be nice. I'm actually having to water in May. That is really unusual.

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  3. Your doing your final planting and I haven't even finished the bed they will be going in! For our area, I don't think I'm too far behind however, as my planting date should have been about 2 weeks ago - it just feels like a lot longer.

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  4. My Sharpes Express and Duke of York look on the point of flowering, they are head and shoulders out of their pots. The Rocket, which were very slow to get going are now playing catch up with the Pilot. My Tomatoes and Peppers are romping away and will have to go into their final pots very soon.

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  5. We have one more batch of potatoes to plant but at the moment other things are taking priority.

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