The potatoes by the back wall in the large black potato buckets looked a little worse for wear yesterday, whether it was some form of scab or blight i don’t know, but i knew the crop would be damaged if i left them in the pot any longer…assuming there was a crop.
I’d planted 3 seed potatoes of ‘Ulster Sceptre,’ in each bucket, but, this being my first foray into potato growing, didn’t know that the tubers grow from the stem, not the root. I’d filled the tub up, and planted the seed about half a foot from the top. With hindsight, and consequently, next year, i will half fill the tub, and add more soil as the leaves develop, this hopefully resulting in a much better crop.
After the plants came out, with a few very happy looking potatoes attached, i set to work delving my hands into the soil, unearthing golden nugget, after golden nugget. There aren’t many things in the veg garden that come close to this as a reward…the scrabblin’ around in the soil, resulting in successful little finds. In total, i unearthed 1.3kg - not bad from 6 tubers. If i’d have planted them correctly, we would probably have twice that. It will keep us in potatoes for a good couple of weeks though.
They quickly found a home in a potato bag the Mrs. bought me for Christmas, so as not to expose them to too much light, or they’d go green.
In addition to the pots, we have about 15 plants growing in the raised beds. I took a couple of plants out as i needed the space (post to come!) with little success, about 300g, so i know which method is better. I don’t want to have to earth up the soil in the raised beds too much, as when the plants come out i will have way too much compost in there. I’ve decided to leave them for a while.
In the potato beds, we have this beautiful flower…who ever said veg didn’t look attractive in the garden? I think it was my mum a few weeks ago that said that First Earlies don’t have to flower before harvesting, a fact confirmed by Alan Titchmarsh’s new book (now i’m getting anoraky!?) - and this was certainly the case with the potatoes in the tubs. I’m going to leave the potatoes in the beds alone though until the flowers have died as the space i needed i now have, and it will give us a crop later on next month - plus they look nice, which will hopefully deter the Mrs. from planting every available container with flowers!
Tags: first earlies, golden nugget, harvest potatoes, ulster sceptre
May 25th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Wow, I can’t believe you have potatoes already! I think I must be running very late with mine, they only poked their heads through the soil a couple of weeks ago. Let us know how good they tasted…
May 26th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Already?! Good going! Try Charlotte next year - they are GORGEOUS.
Like collecting our hen’s eggs, I will never EVER tire of digging up potatoes. I do tell my other half I’m going treasure hunting/digging for gold etc. when I go to dig some up for dinner. “There be gold in them there plots” I say. It’s tragic, but it’s what potatoes do to me.
May 26th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Oh they look great and I didn’t realise you could harvest before the flowers. Maybe I should take a peek at mine.
May 27th, 2008 at 1:39 am
Delicious! Have you eaten any yet? I swear, fresh homegrown tomatoes make storebought ones taste like mushy cardboard.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Thanks all - i am aware it is early, our other earlies in the beds aren’t ready yet. They tasted so blummin amazing, just boiled, a handful of chives from the windowsill added and into my mouth. We had the first lot at our annual Eurovision party on sat, and a few people who tried commented on how delicious they were. We had somemore last nightwhich were just as nice! I need an allotment so i can grow 10 times as many!
May 29th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
That’s an impressive haul, very early. I once tried potatoes in a bucket and didn’t have success but these have done really well.
Simon
May 31st, 2008 at 11:14 am
Ta Simon - i think the key is to plant earlies - although saying that, my aincrops are still alive! No pests yet.