swift spuds ready..?

[crazii_c]

i planted my spuds mid march outside in the grow sacks. i planted swift, charlotte and maris peer. the sack with the swift potatoes in has now got flowers on. does this mean they are ready to harvest?

i had a rumage but couldnt really feel much, just lots of stalks from the plants. although i couldnt get my hand right to the bottom. i read on another link that earlies only make one layer of potatoes at the bottom.

[BigShot]

My first earlies are in flower at the moment, the bit I accidentally pulled up when weeding in the dark (yes, really - I'd been having a good evening and didn't want to believe the light was too far gone to do anything useful) and the two plants that got blackleg had marble sized tubers at best a week or so ago... and the tubers that were there were at all layers of the roots.

Sounds to me like they need more time. Thinking about it, last weekend when the flowers started showing around here my neighbour said he takes the flowers being gone as a sign that some of the tubers might be ready.

[crazii_c]

thx for the advice. i'll give them a while longer then. i'd rather leave them longer and get a decent crop than be impatient and end up with marbles

[gojiberry]

My swift seem to be anything but. I harvested a bag of charlotte ten days ago and got 4.5lb of decent sized new potatoes. Will be having another bag this weekend. I think the most disappointing potatoes are going to be juliette as the haulms are pathetic.

Ian