which way up?

[janeyo]

Hi my potatoes have been chitting nicely for about a month. Well I presume they are chitting nicely, they are in the garage and now have little knobly bits off them.
When I put them in the ground, do I put the potato in vertical with the shoots sort of coming off the top? Or do I put it sideways? And do I need to take any of the shoots off as I have read different things? They are earlies.
And how deep do I plant them? And how far apart?

Thanks, janeyo

sorry for the learner questions, but next year I won't need to ask!

[Flummery]

Green side up as they say! Put your green shoots at the top as they will produce the potato foliage for you. I plant mine about 6" deep (I use a bulb planter) and then earth up a little bit at the time - this is so I can remember where the rows are! As they appear through the soil you can earth them up more so that you protect the foliage from late frosts. The earthing up process also stops spuds from getting the light to them, which produces a toxin in the green bit. I never take any shoots off. Maybe some people do but I like a lot of vigour in my plant! I plant earlies about 12" apart and leave about 15" between rows. Spacings would be greater for maincrop as the yeilds are higher. Some people earth up into a big mound all at once, some don't earth up as such but cover the whole bed with a mulch of, for example, compost or grass clippings. This is really your choice. As long as you can protect the tender shoots from frosts and can ensure a deep enough planting not to lose potatoes to greening from exposure to light, they'll be fine.

And NOTHING tastes like your own spuds!

[janeyo]

Thanks and I can prob plant any time now as they have chitted nicely and we are in Cambs? Quite mild. And a sunny spot for them. I have one bed esp for them it's 8 by 3 so should get all of them in there!

janeyo

[snake the squadie]

yep shoots up and i am putting mine in tomorow