My first potatoes ever! Advice please.

[kittyk]

I've just dug up my first ever lot of potatoes having planted 1st and and 2nd earlies in recycling tubs with council compost! I have been so busy, I was going to leave them a bit longer even though I think I should have dug the 1st earlies in July. Does it matter?

They look good on first inspection but what is the best way to get all that thick compost off? Also, should I keep them in the fridge and for how long? I might eat them tonight but the mud is a bit off-putting-ha ha! (you can tell it is my first time-I usually grow 'above ground' veggies!)

I dug up a tub of the 2nd earlies because the foliage had started to yellow and i didn't want to lose them.

Can I leave the others in the tubs a bit longer?

What veg shall I refill the tubs with?

[quark1]

Believe me your first spuds will be a memorable, proud and tasty moment! Best tasted imho - not messed with and just a touch of salt and pepper and a goodly dollop of real butter!

If you have a big harvest my method is to try and rinse off as much dirt as possible and let them dry a little before placing them in sacks for storage - that's when there's enough of a particular variety. This prevent dirt getting onto your sacks and will reveal any damaged or diseased potatoes, which should be discarded in the case of disease or used quickly if just slightly damaged. Even my hard to please son loves what I've produced so far!

My earlier attempts this year have really been to eat as we go but I have a number of larger tubs which I'm looking forward to eating through the winter. Have some which will hoepfully produce 'news' for Xmas. My last year's offerings kept us going until Feb which was not bad considering it was my first serious attempt at growing myself.

Unless you need the tubs for other things I'd suggest you leave there as a natural storage facility. Do keep a lookout for signs of blight, in which case cut down and remove from tubs. You'll possibly need to keep watered as norm but you'll get bigger spuds the longer they're left in. It all depends on if you like them little and perfectly formed (just like moi!) or something a bit bigger to sustain you through the bleaker months - what I call the 'keepers'. Don't leave if time goes by and frosts arrive as spuds are not frost hardy.

[poozie]

Hi, brush the worst of the compost of then wash them. this can be done before cooking. no need to keep them in fridge but they must be kept in the dark otherwise they will go green and poisonous. A thick paper bag is ideal, or a hessian sack if you have loads.

scrub clean, boil in skins and enjoy, they will taste amazing.

[JennieAtkinson]

If its a nice sunny day (ha ha!) leave them outside to dry off a bit and then just knock the compost off. The less you can wash them the better. I don't keep mine in the fridge, but use the bags our dog food comes in (heavy brown paper), and these keep them fresh for months, as long as they are stored somewhere cool. Keep them in the dark (ie covered in a bag) or as poozie says they will go green. I'm normally still eating first and second earlies in November/December stored this way.

And just enjoy them in their skins with a little bit of mint and butter. Blissful!

[smallblueplanet]

Jennie's got it just right - ours are outside, under shelter, drying off, before going into paper sacks the birdfood comes in! Some are still in the compost/comtainer and I've just removed the tops - they'll keep like that for a while too.

What variety do you grow Jennie?

[JennieAtkinson]

I've got eight buckets of Charlotte (only four left now) and the rest are Orla and Saxon. Grown these varieties for a few years now and they always seem to come out ok.

What do you grow Manda?

[jacob marley]

And do not forget if you plant something else in the compost that has grown the spuds you will need to mix some food in with the compost for the next crop .
The spuds will not have left much plant food behind jacob marley