For me, growing potatoes is not about quantity and big harvests; it's about a small but satisfying crop of good-quality potatoes, much better (and certainly much fresher) than anything you can buy in a shop.
I have only 12 containers of potatoes (they are 35-litre ones), so it is relatively easy to look after them. Apart from protecting them frost, and in their early days earthing them up, the most important thing to do is water them well. The soil in containers can dry out very rapidly in hot weather, and potatoes don't like that. Dry soil in particular promotes the disfiguring disease Scab. Since there has been very little rainfall recently I have been watering my pots about every other day. In warmer weather I would probably increase this to once a day.
The foliage of my potatoes is very fresh-looking still, and perkily upright, so this tells me that it's unlikely there are any sizeable tubers down below just yet. As the tubers begin to swell the foliage tends to flop and it starts to lose its bright green colour.
Another sign of approaching maturity is the appearance of flowers. However, though some potato varieties produce quite large and sometimes colourful flowers, others only have very small and insignificant ones. This "Colleen" plant is obviously one of the latter!
At the rate things are proceeding - and a spell of warm sunny weather is forecast for our area - I think we are on track for harvesting the first potatoes in about 3 to 4 weeks' time. Of course the first ones to be lifted will be First Early varieties and their yield will not be huge, but I fully expect them to be lovely and tasty!
Our greenhouse potatoes are growing well too - way ahead of our plot grown ones which is hardly surprising. Never come across Colleen.
ReplyDeleteWe tend not to eat many potatoes for whatever reason, but it does seem like a very rewarding crop - maybe next year we'll grow a couple. Any suggestions as to varieties? We love a good potato salad, and could encourage us to eat less 'processed' pasta!
ReplyDeleteI think that the best all-rounder is "Charlotte" - happy as a salad potato, but also good with things like grilled Gammon or steamed Salmon!
DeleteSo lush and healthy!
ReplyDeleteMy potato plants are now coming up strong. The plants are about 20 cm high now. They were grown from potatoes from our pantry that had sprouted. It is Autumn here in New Zealand so no frosts expected yet. But I am concerned that I may have planted them a little too late in the season. At what stage/height in growth did you start earthing your potatoes up? and at what temperatures do you need to protect them from the cold?
ReplyDeleteI start earthing-up my potatoes when they are very small - I do it usually twice, possibly 3 times, when the shoots are sticking up a few inches above the soil. I would protect my potatoes with fleece if the temperature was going to be 3C or less. If the leaves do get a bit frosted they usually manage to re-grow, but it may be different where you are, since presumably your weather is getting colder not warmer now!
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