Vegmonkey and the Mrs.

As we only have a small area to grow our veg in, harvesting is usually left until we can get the best from the crop, rather than pulling things up before they are ready! This way we get the best veg from the space. The only real exception to this usually is the carrots and onions, which get raided whenever we get the chance!

At the weekend, i got quite excited (like i do!) about the rest of the early Ulster Sceptre potatoes. Rather than pull up the entire plants, i decided to delve my hand into the soil underneath each plant, and see what i could find. As you can see from the picture, i found about 600g from the metre row, of three initial tubers.

Not bad that! The plants are holding up nicely after my intrusion, so hopefully will produce a further crop within 3 weeks, when they will need to come out so that the courgettes and squashes can use the space. I don’t see any reason why this cannot be a regular thing with earlies, who says the plant has to be dug up? As long as the soil is pliable enough, dig in!

After harvesting the potatoes a couple of days ago, i got to thinking about the poor little seed potato. I took so long deciding whether i wanted earlies or maincrops, then which variety to buy, and then the sub variety, then changed my mind, then went to a potato day and made a final decision based on a number of factors. Luckily i chose well - our harvest tastes delicious, with a few chives added for good measure!

The seed potatoes were then meticulously planted and looked after. However, as soon as the green shoots started appearing, i forgot about the tubers until unearthing them, and caught a glimpse of the wrinkled mess that i spent so much time searching for.

It’s quite amazing that seeds turn into what they do. All we do is (hopefully!) give the seed the right conditions for germination. This enables the embryo - a plant in what is essentially a state of frozen animation - to begin it’s growth. Inside the seed is enough food to support it as it begins to absorb water, the embryo begins to grow, it puts roots down and develops baby leaves (cotyledons), so that it can finally provide its own food. Potatoes are a little different, being the size that they are. The really tiny seeds like carrot seeds are particularly amazing.

This is one of the main reasons we decided to begin growing our own - why should we pay somebody else to give the seed the right conditions for germination, look after it during its growth and food production, (spray it with loads of chemicals!), package it and deliver it to somewhere near our home.

We can do that ourselves.

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!

I received a new lens for my camera today and could not resist taking a load of pictures out in the garden! The picture doesn’t exactly show the prettiest thing in the world though, but neither are the sprouts it came from or the resulting potatoes that will result. At least the flowers will be nice.

Expect more close ups, although i am still learning…

Everything in the greenhouse is coming on nicely. I overwatered some of it, resulting in green slime on some of the trays and the slugs nibbled some, so i repotted the seedlings that looked the healthiest. There are now quite a few healthy, growing tomato (Ailsa Craig) plants in bigger pots, to give them room to put down their roots.  We grew tumbling tom last year but the Mrs. didn’t like the consistency of the tomatoes. I didn’t really mind as i usually only eat them in stuff, rather than on their own. The brussel seedlings and all of the herbs are coming on too, although the basil didn’t like it in there very much.

I had to go and buy some more compost from the garden centre round the corner from my house, but the bag was enough to do all of the repotting, and i had some left over. I decided to plant a little more spinach in some battered terracotta pots that were lying around, so the rest of the compost went in there.  We always end up never having enough Spinach.

The compost bin is getting full. With hindsight i would have chopped things up a lot more before putting it in the bin, but i think it will need turning over soon or it will never produce the ‘black gold.’ At least the bin blends into the garden better than those horrid tardis black ones that just stand out. I suppose if they do the job, they suit.

Also at the back of the garden are the potatoes (Ulster Sceptre) which are sprouting, and being earlies, should be up and running soon. I’m happy that we won’t be getting any more frosts, but am thinking this rain could do with stopping soon if the pot’s are going to have any chance of surviving. Above the potatoes are the ‘Winter’ pansies that we planted absolutely yonks ago! I think a sign that it has been the coldest Easter for over 40 years, is in the fact that the pansies are still producing buds and flowers…

This is the first year of us attempting to grow potatoes. Due to the lack of space we have plumped for a variety called ‘Ulster Sceptre,’ which is a first early. ‘Ulster Chieftan’ and ‘Swift’ were the other options i thought about but the former has relatively poor resistance to disease (not usually a problem with earlies as they aren’t in the ground long enough) and the latter i think is too common!

The first step to home grown potatoes is debatable. Chitting involves putting the seed potatoes in a light frost free place such as a covered greenhouse or a windowsill so that they begin to sprout. The purpose of this is to give them a head start so that when they go in the ground, they have more of a chance. The sprouts appearing should be green - not white as this indicates they have not had enough light, and should number no more than 3 or 4. If they do appear too early or are white, according to www.gardenaction.co.uk they can be rubbed off up to 5 times before it has any adverse effect on the sprouts that replace them, which is interesting. Timing is everything! However, through reading i have done myself and discussion with other gardeners, it seems it is only necessary if you want a really early crop. It’s also interesting to note that commercial potato growers don’t chit at all.

I am using an old apple holder whatsit that was no longer needed by Morrisons to chit mine in as i didn’t have the foresight to save egg boxes. Silly, i know!

Potatoes should be planted in early March. I am going to dig a trench about 10cm deep, and place the potatoes in the trench about 25cm apart with about 50cm between each row. This will then be covered over by hand, so not to damage the sprouts.  The recommended distance for earlies is 30cm by 60cm but i really do not have the space to plant any closer, and don’t mind the smaller potatoes that will result.  As the potatoes grow, they will need to be earthed up - the RHS describe this as the drawing up of soil around the plant to prevent the greening of tubers by light and to prevent the onset of blight. I am aware that i may have to build some sort of structure to enclose the soil around the plant as it grows, as the beds aren’t hugely deep - a chance to buy more tools methinks!

We will also have some in large black pots that i purchased at the potato event last weekend. They have drainage holes in the bottom, and will each take 3 of the egg-sized tubers, producing no less that 15lb’s per tub! That’s pretty good going in my book. I need to remember to add some slow release organic fertiliser at planting as i always forget ‘in the excitement of planting…’

In the grand scheme planting plan wotsit, the potatoes will be occupying about a quarter of bed 2, the one that houses the roots. I have already manured most of the bed and will be ’sorting’ the PH at the beginning of the Spring. When they are removed in June, Leeks or Parsnips will go into their space, depending on which have been the most successful in the mini-greenhouse. From past experience, it’ll be the Leeks!

The only problem with earlies is that they don’t store hugely well. Might have to find some interesting ways of cooking them…potatoes with weetabix anyone?

I treated myself today.

After going to pick up the Mrs.’ new car this morning, she drove home and i snook off to the garden centre. www.dundrynurseries.co.uk/  It is close to where i live which is handy, but the main purpose was to buy some seed potatoes. I’ve heard of potato days in the past but have never been to one. Bizzarely, i really enjoyed myself (as much as is possible at seeing 150 varieties of seed potato!).  It was possible to buy any of the varieties loose, in 3kg bags or 25kg bags. This is great for me as i don’t have to pay the high postage costs commanded when buying online, and have the exact variety i wanted. I bought a 3kg bag for £4.25, which will give me enough seed pot’s to plant, plus do the work veg patch and give a few away to friends so they can be ‘amazed and astounded!’ Whoever heard of a potato as a present!

I chose ‘Ulster Sceptre,’ a first early potato which can be chitted now, planted mid March and harvested early to mid-June. It is known as an ‘early, earlie’ potato which will be ready 10 weeks after planting, and was first bred in 1964.  When i harvest them, the leeks can go straight into the space, and the ground use is maximised. I also bought 2 large black potato buckets which will take 3 tubers each and produce about 6kg of potatoes per bucket, Ulster Sceptre having a particularly high yield. Sadly i will only be able to grow first earlies due to the size of the garden, but we are going to have plenty.

It does amaze me though, how many people appear at an event like a potato day, and how much of a massive operation it is. A very patriotic British occasion. There were also some ’show quality’ veggies there, to which i can only aspire. I’ll let the pics to the talking!