Planted potatoes in the greenhouse today

[spudstacker]

Hi Everyone
Have spent a long time in the greenhouse today planting my seed potatoes in grow bags and other some other containers. I am trialing growing some in ash from last nights fire , some with grow more and lastly some with a little manure. I used soil that was kept in the utility room overnight to warm it up.
The potatoes are now in the unheated greenhouse with newspaper on the top of the soil to keep a bit of warm in. I had a bumper harvest at the end of April by starting early last year.
I am not sure if this year will be so successful as it is a lot colder than last year. But nothing ventured nothing gained!!
Has anyone else planted any yet? Or am I the only mad fool out there!

[allotmentlady]

whereabouts are you in the country? (thinking of temps) I have never heard of spuds going in at this time of year? might give it a go though......

[spudstacker]

I live in Northamptonshire, so we are not so far north, although the weather has been very cold of late. Have attached my harvest from last April (planted about this time) I don't know why more people don't try it.
As long as you keep the foliage from appearing by toppping the soil up when you see the green shoots and you keep in an indoor environment.
I put a layer of fleece over from March onwards when you can't holdthe greenary back any longer.
Give it whirl, it is not fool proof, but it is great when you get a decent harvest.

[bramble]

HI Spudstacker, those potatoes from your last crop look great. Will give a try to planting early. What variety of potatoes did you plant today?

[terrier]

Spudstacker, I've never heard of planting in ash before, do you mean pure ash or ash mixed with soil? I get tons of ash from my log burner most of which gets incorporated into the midden.

[tattieman]

I might put some in my greenhouse and try it.
It is worth trying once with a few spuds and a bit of compost.

[SarzWix]

I think I'd feel more confident of keeping potatoes safe from frost this early than tomatoes - as Spudstacker says, you can just keep on covering the foliage until the weather is a bit better, especially in a nice tall container. I'm not going to be fit to do it for a few weeks yet, but I'll give it a go then

[spudstacker]

I am trying three varieties - Rocket (not sure if they will grow to quickly but going to give it a go), Homeguard and Pentland Javelin. I will let you know how it is goes.

[spudstacker]

Sorry I should ave made myself a little clearer. I put a few hand fulls of ash (wood ash) into compost (approx 1 part ash to 30 parts compost). As potaoes love potash I thought I would give it a go, as like you I have a abundance due to my wood burner. I put some in with my Christmas spuds in August and it seems to work. I got more poatoes this year than I did the year before anyway.

[Alice]

I usually do a few early potatoes Spudstacker, but I discovered potatoes planted in January didn't do better than the potatoes planted in February (for me) so I'll hang off til next month and get a few buckets planted up.

[zazen999]

Once i've got a greenhouse, I'm up for this as well.

[janeyo]

If my seed poatoes ever come I will do so too!

janeyo

[allotmentlady]

oooh look at those spuds, when mine come I will just put a few in :0) worth giving a go

[spudstacker]

I Would be really interested in all your results. Last year the next batch I planted in April didnt do half as well. I have no idea why, so I am taking no chances this year and planting a few tubs now, as a net of spuds only costs 3.00 why not! Please keep me informed, this a great experiment and on personal experience its worth a punt. Don't forget to keep in contact and good luck to you all. Would be interested to know what compost you are going to use.

[Sanjo]

I have had potatoes in sacks/buckets since August which I then moved into the greenhouse where the heater is only on frost setting as I am trying to overwinter a lot of geraniums.
Some I harvested on Boxing day and although not a massive return they were lovely and didn't cost me much as they were from my spring planting and the heater hasn't been on much. I have however, covered the GH with bubble wrap..
On 26th December I found some spuds in the bag indoors (desiree I think they are) I bunged them in the same compost with additional fresh compost from my bin. Nothing much appeared to have happened to them in the growing line which I assumed was because the compost wasn't entirely fresh and rich.
I have purchased composted stable manure from my local garden centre (see thread on wyvales-updated) and despite being assured by the manufacturer that it is safe from aminopyralid I decided to experiment so dug up the desiree to see what state they were in.
They had, in fact started to sprout, about 1", so I put the new composted manure (mixed with bagged topsoil) into a new bucket and carefully placed the chitted spuds in there. The idea is that if they continue to grow then I shall feel confident to spread the rest of the manure where I intend to grow my earlies.
I also harvested another bag this week, again not a massive crop but a pleasant change from shop bought. I have two more buckets to harvest which are showing green and seem healthy. As I would have been using the greenhouse anyway I thought it worth trying out the spuds and haven't been disappointed as I was really only after Christmas ones which I got. Hope this helps. Sandra