First Earlies for dinner tonight!

[Paulieb]

Just been out to harvest some Sharpes Express that I planted in a morrisons bucket in the greenhouse on 15 Feb. 1 bucket 2 seed potatoes.

I think perhaps luckily there were no heavy frosts this year which might have got at them in the greenhouse.

So 11.5 weeks after planting this is what I've got for tea tonight.

I've got another bucket of Sharpes and 2 casablancas also, but will wait till we need then before harvesting.

[WendyC]

Lucky you. It's so cold again today mine outside in the ground are barely above the soil level. Enjoy!

[Bren In Pots]

Congrats, they're going to be the best potatoes you've ever tasted

Mine are at the same stage as WendyC's so I've got some time to wait before sampling mine.

[VirginVegGrower]

Now that's worth crowing about! Lucky you... I am about two weeks behind you with a bag of mine. Just thrown them out of the greenhouse though as I need the space now. Two bags shivering in the cold and one with all it's foliage hanging out, looking miserable

[Terry1968]

Well done they look fab. mine should be ready in another 3 or 4 weeks and im so looking forward to enjoying my first lot of home grown spuds

[miker2d2]

yummy, mine in the ground aren't even showing, hope they haven't rotted with the waterlogged soil

[Peas'n'Kews]

They look delicious! The OH's potatoes have just been earthed up for the first time - they are in £land "garden bags" which he pulls the sides of up as he earths up.

And he's trying the tip I got from this forum of covering the entire plant when earthing up.

But we've got weeks and weeks to wait for a first feed!

[lottie dolly]

well done indeed,pat on back,i only tried buckets once,i ended up transfering them to the ground,1 seed and the pot was root bound,with very tiny potatoes,maybe i was not patient enough,on seeing yours i will have to have another try next year,also some for this @@rismas,thanks for sharing,they will be delish,as for my outsiders,then they are same as others peeps,

[Farmer_Gyles]

my first earlies (swift) were put in buckets mid feb, still only 8 inches of foliage .... they've been outside most of the time ..... think it'll be a few more weeks before they're ready ....

i'm not in much of a hurry tho .... i still have half a sack of spuds from the farm shop and still have half a bed (4ft x 8ft) of 2nd earlies to dig up from last year .... some will have rotted, but others should be fine .... it's just a bit too wet to dig out there at the mo ....

[Alison]

In theory my early Ulster Classics in the polytunnel should be ready now but I'm going to give them an extra couple of weeks as they took a while to come through and I think the crop would still be a bit low yet but seeing yours doesn make me want to dig some up

My outdoor ones however aren't showing themselves as yet but are very well watered!

[taff]

wow....I'm impressed...

[Uber-Uncool]

Well done you! They look lovely and i'm sure the taste will be just wonderful.

[sarah_rance]

They look fab. Mine went in mid march and they have flown on since then. I might have to root about a bit and see what I can feel

[Pa Snips]

They look great...well done!
It's amazing to think that they all came out of a MFB in just under 12 weeks.

I didn't do any first earlies and my second earlies went in about three weeks after your firsts, so I guess I have a while longer to wait just yet, I'm thinking maybe mid-June. If they look half as good as yours I'll be a very happy chappy.

[Paulieb]

As you've all suggested.....they were absolutely fantastic.....with a bit of cauli cheese and bacon.

The foliage was about 2ft high when I harvested these ones, as is another bucket of sharpes express which I'll probably tip out this weekend. I didn't wait for them to die back, and they weren't even starting to flower. Strangely the seed potato was still in one piece ....perhaps that just shows there was more energy to give!
Just purely went on timings of 10-12 weeks.....and waiting ideally till 12 weeks to allow for slow early growth due to cooler temps in Feb (although March was warmer than normal).

However, I do have two buckets of casablanca which are moving along much slower (perhaps only 1ft tall, but slightly bushier), so I expect they will be harvested during the week after.