christmas potatoes

[miker2d2]

Seed Potato Catalogue - Autumn and Christmas Potatoes

from this I take it potatoes can be planted in august and dug up for christmas?

is it really that simple or am i missing something?

will they need fleece protection?

I will have some space when my earlies are out so I'm tempted to give the ground a good load of manure, leave for a month and then get some of these xmas potatoes in.

does anyone else grow xmas spuds in this fashion?


Regards

Mike

[FionaH]

They would need to be in a greenhouse I reckon. Frost would likely get them otherwise

[miker2d2]

thanks fiona, it says its a new development in growing, (you need to click the "more info" in the link i provided)

[chris]

I'm surprised JBA don't mention that the frost may kill them off - that said, I've a load of pink fir volunteer spuds popping up all over my new plot.. given the winter we had, and the depth (i.e. how shallow) they're at I'm surprised.

I grew some "xmas" spuds (i.e. charlotte) in planter sacks in the greenhouse. Harvested a week or so before, they were lovely to have on xmas.. The only issue is, the cost of compost to fill the sacks unless you can make a lot of your own

A lot of seed companies offer xmas spuds, but in most cases they just want to sell. The one good thing about JBA - is that they post on these forums. If you check the potatoes made easy thread in the new shoots section you'll see tattieman - I'd suggest seeking advice from him, or emailing them. I got the advice I needed to have spuds over xmas, but as said these weren't outside.

[Florence Fennel]

I tried some outside in containers, they did nothing. This year because I have a little stayput greenhouse, I'm going to try some in that. I'd love to serve up my own potatoes for Ch dinner.

[miker2d2]

With increasing popularity in growing potatoes for harvest in the autumn we here at Jamieson Brothers have came up with a complete selection of the best suited varieties for the job.

These varieties should grow on until the first winter frosts hit them which will start to kill the foliage off. You can plant them in your garden under a fleece or grow them in our potato planter bags.

Our price for this selection is £9.99 delivered for 1kg of Pentland Javelin, 1kg of Charlotte, 1kg of Duke of York and 1kg of Arran pilot. Each Kilo pack should contain approx 12 potatoes.

found this on the site too and i've pmed tattieman to try and get his input

[Suky]

I grow mine in tubs outside and when the frost starts to rear it's head I move them into the greenhouse. The foliage dies down and I cut it off and just leave the pots dry until Christmas, ensuring they don't freeze. This way I usually get several servings over the Christmas period.

ETA: I have some charlotte pots in the bottom of the fridge to bring out in a month or so to start off for planting.

[Gurberly]

we grew some Christmas potatoes (charlottes) last year. They were in bags outside until the frosts and then went into the greenhouse (unheated). The weather was then so cold that the compost froze and we couldn't get them out of the bags for Christmas! A couple of week later though we gave it a try, expecting mush in the bottom of the bags, but they were lovely!. Will be trying again this year.

[Dead Dogs]

I tried JBA's Christmas selection last year, 4 varieties and 4 sacks. There where enoght to put 4 or 5 per sack and 1 row in the ground per variety. All where growing well in the poly, until the snow arrived mid November. Lovely new spud in winter.

[Snadger]

Not wanting to dampen anyone's enthusiasm but I tried them for three sucessive years and each time I failed miserably.
I tried in cold greenhouse, in heated cold frame and also outside with a one foot thick straw mulch............yada for all methods!

Until someone breeds a cold/frost tolerant tattie, enough is enough for me methinks!

[tattieman]

The xmas spuds are more of a challenge to grow than the normal ones. You have to time it right so that you miss the worst of the blight but give them enough time to mature into something decent.

I normally tell people that planting around mid August is about right for most areas. I find that first earlies will bulk up to size quicker and are a safer bet to grow. The second earlies will bulk up just a few weeks behind them and in some cases you will be able to grow early maincrops.

Frost is going to be the main problem as long as you are not struck with blight early on. You can try and fleece them if the are outdoors in the ground but don't let the fleece touch the leaves as this will nip them through the fleece.

I like to grow them in containers. One potato in a small container is ideal as you can move it indoors when frost threatens. If you are using the green potato planter bags then I have devised a new layering system to grow them in. It is really quite simple and makes better use of the growing space.

What you do is put a 4" layer of compost in the bag as normal but place 1 potato in each position east and west from the centre of the bag. Keep them a couple of inches off the sides. Apply another 4" of compost on top and then place one potato in a north position and one in a south position and cover with another 4 inches. You should now have 4 potatoes in the bag and the compost will be 12" high which leaves about another 6" to go to the top. When all of the shoots have appeared from the 4 potatoes at the top of the 12" level you can then put one more potato right in the centre of them all and cover with another 4" of compost. Keep the compost moist. The best thing I have found is to put a few litres of water in a high sided tray and put the planter bag into the tray for ten minutes and let it sook up what water it can from the bottom. I find that is the best way to keep them watered but does require abit of heavy lifting.

[miker2d2]

thanks for your input tattieman

[rth]

i wanna try this ... this year are charlottes the only 1s ?

[Plot103]

i wanna try this ... this year are charlottes the only 1s ?

No, there are quite a few varieties that should work. Have a look here for a start: Seed Potato Catalogue - Autumn and Christmas Potatoes