Chr****as potatoes vales emerald

[darcyvuqua]

Sorry for the use of the nasty word above but I really want to eat home grown potatoes and veg for the festive day in December

I'm just wondering when you all plant yours and if you plant in buckets and move into the greenhouse when the tomatoes end or straight into the ground?

I bought these

Vales emerald anyone grown them before? There a first early!

[bearded bloke]

My most successful time at this was with Vivaldi set in MPC in half blue barrels.I stuffed two pallets with straw,put a blowaway type cloche on them & laid 6" straw on top of the pallets,put the half barrels on that & then stuffed around them with straw to the top of the barrels,only opened the cloche to water,seeds were set 14 weeks before the due date.

[solway cropper]

We always have roasties with our Christmas dinner so I've never seen the point of new potatoes at that time of year. With blight as prevalent as it has has been these last few years you'd have a hard job keeping them free of it if grown outside.

The cynic in me says it's just another way to make gardeners part with their hard-earned cash.

[out in the cold]

Grew our spuds for Xmas dinner last year. Planted at start of October

[darcyvuqua]

Grew our spuds for Xmas dinner last year. Planted at start of October

What variety were they and were they grown in a greenhouse??

[KittyColdNose]

We grew them in bags outside Darcy. They were in a sheltered spot between the shed and fence, but otherwise unprotected (admittedly they were small but it was enough for us). I think they were a red king edward. Will check!

...Yup, thems the chaps.

[darcyvuqua]

Ok thanks kitty my first early crop are due to be harvested I may put this pack in the ground for late summer picking and buy some real Christmas seed potatoes I only really bought this pack because they were 25p lol along with a few packs of flower bulbs

[bearded bloke]

So long as they have not started to go soft,knock off any chits that are forming,put in a paper bag & store in the fridge until two weeks before you want to plant them,at time put them somewhere warm & light to remove the chill & restart the chitting process.

[darcyvuqua]

So long as they have not started to go soft,knock off any chits that are forming,put in a paper bag & store in the fridge until two weeks before you want to plant them,at time put them somewhere warm & light to remove the chill & restart the chitting process.

I think that's why they were cheap there nicely chitted and starting to soften so will just put them in tomorrow I think I have a spare space for them!

I didn't really want them as I wanted a decent roaster for the big day but for 25p...,,,, you know how it goes

[bearded bloke]

Back shortly with some pic's

[bearded bloke]

Right ho,these are my second earlies in the aforementioned cloche,International Kidney on the right & Charlotte on the left ........





The same day I planted those,I put these in the "beer fridge",again I.K. on the right & Charlotte on the left ...........





Checked monthly for chits & any over 1/2" long rubbed off,I.K. develop them quicker than Charlotte,but these ..........





(Kindly given to me by MBE) have not had any chits removed at all,I cannot remember the variety but will deffo get more for next year if MBE will be kind & refresh my memory.

[Likac66]

I've just bought some international kidney seed potatoes for winter harvesting. I'm thinking of chitting them over the next month or so and then planting them at the end of August/beginning of September

[Mikey]

The bottom ones look like a red, are they duke of york or desiree BB?

[stubedo]

the use of the word chris`mouse is more stealth ;-)

[maytreefrannie]

The cynic in me says it's just another way to make gardeners part with their hard-earned cash.

I've always used supermarket spuds for my attempts at a Christmas crop. That way I didn't really lose anything on them (well, the price of 3 or 4 spuds from a bag). However, I never actually got a crop for Christmas. Maybe I should have bought the seed potatoes.