Dig up your potatoes! Claire's Allotment part 47

Now they're ready, it's time to dig up your potatoes!

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Allotment
• Gardening
• Vegetables
• Horticulture
• Potatoes
• Gardeners'
• World
• Joe
• Swift

[tigger00025]

that all ya got of 4 plants i get more than that off 1 plant plant them deeper all i do and i get loads of 1 plant 2 meals of 1 plant every year i get

[clairesallotment]

@tigger00025 Some years are better than others. The first earlies tend to be far less than the mids. One year on the allotment site we all had a very poor show on the Early Potatoes. When we had the really wet Summer I had more than I knew what to do with.

[PersianPaladin]

Sometimes I find I can dig them up with my hands...but very rarely I have to dig with a fork to go deeper. I got about three large ones from 2 potato plants this year, is that unusual?

[clairesallotment]

@PersianPaladin I had to dig with my hand one year as I pulled tendons in my knuckle and couldn't bend my finger. Very painful, don't do it. I missed a few as I couldn't get down far. It is unusual to get 3 large ones from one plant, but maybe they're the type that do that. What variety were they? Usually they're all about the same size.

[blustardave]

if your potatoes are green ,they haven't got enough soil covering them..digging them up too early just means you get pea size tatties... its best to pull off the flower heads when they appear..they are not needed, and just take up precious nutrients that the potato will get ,when the flower is off..also..if you do leave the flowers on, ( especially the fruit thing )..do not put them on your compost ,as they are poisonous..

[clairesallotment]

@blustardave You always find that some potatoes have crept to just below the surface. I've never heard about pulling off the flowers before, but it makes sense so the plant can focus all it's energy into the potatoes. Thanks for that piece of information.

[Crustydraw]

I think you got the taters beat on the sweet thing.

[clairesallotment]

@hurstscrambler Usually I get larger potatoes, but because the weather was so dry most of them seem to be medium to small size. Everyone on the allotment seems to be the same. I did dig one red potato up the other day that weighted 10oz. The red ones seem to have done better this year than the white ones.

[hurstscrambler]

I get more than that under one plant. You need more manure! One plant I had 15 good size potatoes.

[teresajoh]

@clairesallotment Great! Thanks. Maybe I'll have a go at swede this time and leave the brocolli til later. Thanks again :)