Question about early potatoes

[susieq100]

Hi folks - hoping for some more excellent advice. My early potatoes have done really well and I'm delighted. The haulm has now died off and gone very brown and withered. It has rained and rained and the garden is so wet that we have only lifted a few spuds as and when we need them. We are going off on holiday for 2 weeks on Tuesday. If I leave the potatoes in the ground and it continues to rain and rain, will they rot? Should I go and lift the lot and put them in a dark, cool and dry place - was thinking of the back of the garage. Not sure what to do for the best.

[jacob marley]

The thing to do is find out if the skins have set ie- can you stil srape them if so leave them in the ground until you can not scrape them i hope you do not lose them jacob

[rustylady]

They may, or they may not, depends on how wet the ground gets. I'm still leaving mine in the ground and lifting as and when needed. Good results so far.

[sewer rat]

If you do decide to lift them, leave them out for a couple of hours in whatever sun you can find - helps the skin toughen up and prepares them for storage. Paper sacks are preferable to hessian as they exclude all light. But somewhere cool and dark would do - must be dry as well.

[susieq100]

Thanks very much everyone - I think I'll hedge my bets! If it stops raining over the weekend (or indeed if it ever stops raining) I'll lift half of them and leave the other half in the ground. The skins haven't set yet, you can rub it off with your thumb! We're going to Crete - talk about a contrast in the weather (I hope!)

[bubblewrap]

Dug all my earlies as the tops died off am drying now & will store in recycled potato sacks.