2014 Potato planting

[Jeanied]

OK folks - I have always gone by a rule of thumb that I plant my potatoes on Good Friday - but this year it is all over the place. A late Easter and an early spring have got me all muddled up. Went to the allotment site today to find three of my allotment neighbours - all of them very experienced - had got their spuds in already!!!

Mine are still firmly in egg boxes and bags, chitting, so what do we all think?

[snakeshack]

Mine go in on st Patrick's day or the nearest weekend to it.It doesn't move about like Good Friday and I feel the Irish know their spuds.good Friday was traditionally spud planting day as it was the first public holiday when us poor serfs got a day off to get their spuds in!


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[Hazel at the Hill]

I'd leave them chitting for the time being, Jeanie - unless your fellow plotters have some sort of divination that the weather will remain mild!

Although you might gain a couple of weeks earlier crop if you sow now as opposed to the end of March/beginning of April, equally you might lose the whole lot to a frost. And most things catch up anyway.

It's not worth the risk in my view - I mean, how desperate are you to have that first new potato; and how devastated would you be at the loss in terms of money and effort if you lost them for the sake of waiting a while.

[Ladyslip]

I generally aim for St Patricks day too....buuut last year it was so wet and horrid I didn't even start planting the first earlies til May I think it was.......everything turned out ok tho where they're going this year I still have piggies on the plot and they're not going until the end of March so I could well be a good bit later this year

[solway cropper]

How can you plant things according to a calendar? Nature doesn't recognize weeks and months.

I can't surely be the only person who sows and plants when conditions are appropriate.

[Bill HH]

The answer to your conflict is simple, plant half now and half much later. Best of both worlds.

[Penellype]

Remember too that people can act like sheep. Just because your 3 neighbours have all planted theirs doesn't mean that its the right thing to do. Maybe one of them took a risk and the other 2 copied him/her!

[Nannysally99]

Mine are still chitting and being moved from porch to spare room today , bit warmer up there. So won't plant them until the weather warms up a bit and stays that way. I learnt last year that everything grows better with warmth . I have no greenhouse so have to wait unfortunately


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[Dorothy rouse]

No one on our plots have put theirs in yet,and we are fairly sheltered and it's been mild. I'm just getting the ground ready, it's been under black fabric, will plant towards end of March.

[Tadpole123]

Every year I put a few in buckets at the end of feb but they're up against a brick wall facing south and sheltered. Last year when we had late snow for here, I put them in my hall at night and they were fine.
The rest I plant weekly over the next 6 weeks or so.
I used to put them in the ground after warming the soil and they were fine then too. I think it makes a big difference where you are and the micro climate.
It's very wet soil I won't plant in as I have heavy clay.

[Aberdeenplotter]

OK folks - I have always gone by a rule of thumb that I plant my potatoes on Good Friday - but this year it is all over the place. A late Easter and an early spring have got me all muddled up. Went to the allotment site today to find three of my allotment neighbours - all of them very experienced - had got their spuds in already!!!

Mine are still firmly in egg boxes and bags, chitting, so what do we all think?

your neighbours are nuts sit on your hands

[TrialAndError]

Potatoes foliage above ground is killed by frost. That's the key fact.

In the very warm south the last frost will occur much earlier than the last frost in cooler parts of the north - more than a month's difference. So, no particular day in the year is good for everyone. Type in something like "last frost dates UK" into Google or Bing and find out what's the last frost date for your area. Subtract two or three weeks from that date and that's the date to plant your seed potatoes. Nothing magical or mythical about it. Doing it that way will ensure that in most years your potato foliage will appear just after the last frost date and that's what you want.

[Martin H]

There's a week or so of nice weather forecast for us now. This is nature's way of tempting us to plant things for Jack Frost to kill in April. I'm waiting until the last week of the month, the spuds are nicely chatted already but will be okay for another few weeks.

(Except for the 4 tubers I planted in February, obviously.)

[Penellype]

I've planted 3 of my Pentland Javelin tubers in a bag in the garage today, but I will be putting it out on a trolley so that I can easily bring it back in again if frost is forecast once the foliage appears.

[batman]

As a newbie I have no prior experience, but I asked some of the old hands at our allotment site, and most will usually put in their spuds around the end of March (depending on weather).

I found a very nifty site (ignore if this is common knowledge!) with planting dates for common plants. You enter your UK location, and it calculates the planting dates from the average "last frost" date for your region.
http://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/


If I enter my area (around Birmingham), it gives the following results:

POTATO GROWING CALENDAR FOR THE Birmingham AREA

Start chitting /sprouting your potatoes in the first week of March 2014

Plant out your sprouted potatoes in the second week of April 2014

Fortnightly nitrogen feed (e.g. Growmore) from the fourth week of May 2014 to the second week of July 2014

Fortnightly potash feed (e.g. tomato fertiliser) from the fourth week of June 2014 to mid August 2014

Earth up your potatoes when the foliage is about 10cm / 4in above ground

Water as needed if the weather is very dry.