couple of growing /harvesting questions

[dannyj]

Back in early march i planted out some seed potatoes -

Iv forgot what they was and the lables have got lost somehow?

the leaves are now huge and iv earthed up as much as the tub will hold

there is a few small flowers on each tub - not many say 6 or so on each

but today the stems on one of the tubs has collapsed - i dont know if this is weather damage with the rain we had or if they are ready:?

I really am a beginner with spuds so how do i know when they are ready?




also.......

my cucumber plant in the greenhouse has 2 very plump cucumbers on it - 6 inches now - again a beginner here when can i pick those??

got a huge bowl of strawberries today from my plants and my little girl picked off her first tomato of the year shes made up - courgettes for tea thursday!!

[Two_Sheds]

Spuds: earlies are ready after about 12 weeks. Have a furtle underneath the soil to feel if they are big enough to be worth picking

Cucumbers: I'd pick them now! The plant will make more

[Florence Fennel]

Good advice there from TS and well done with the strawberries and courgettes, I bet it's lovely to see your little girl eating the fruit and veg you have grown.

[endymion]

It's fantastic when the pick your own starts

If you pick cucumbers when they're small it'll persuade the plant to make some more. If you leave them to grow too big then the plant won't bother growing any more because it'll think it's done enough to reproduce.

[Creemteez]

By the way, "Furtle" is a technical veg gardening term. Defined as a verb (to furtle, I, you, he/she furtled), it means to gently ease your fingers into the soil at the base of your potato plants and feel around - very gently as you don't want to detatch anything by mistake - and see if you can feel some reasonably sized spuds. You should not have to go down too far before making contact with something.
This action (furtling) is often accompanied by the muttered words, "Come on, babies, I know your down there...." and followed by whoops of joy and an embarracing little dance in the manner of Joey Tribiani off "Friends".
Seriously, if only one plant or part of a plant has collapsed it's likely to be wind/rain damage. The dying off proccess of maincrop potaoes takes a little longer - they don't just collaplse.

[Florence Fennel]

This is very true CT. My potatoes in sacks were looking decidedly dejected and I thought "Hah, good, I'll be eating them at the weekend". As I was watering the pumpkins, the sacks got a watering can full each too. When I looked half an hour later, the foliage was up green and strong, so I'm glad I didn't harvest!