Earthing up

[Dorothy rouse]

Earthed up my potatoes the other day, first Earlies and main, and also those in bags, yesterday they were up again, is it absolutely necessary to do this? Or just until all possible frost is over? Can I leave them now? Please say 'yes'!

[Thelma Sanders]

Have to do it while there are frosts about, after that sighs of relief all round.

Keep an eye on forecasts til mid May though!

[snakeshack]

earthing up also increases your crop as the tubers grow from the stems ,also earthing up stops light getting to the tubers and making them green and poisonous

[Alison]

I don't earth up at all. All mine are grown in the ground and planted deeply. I plant late enough that frost isn't (well shouldn't be!) a problem and plant in a grid which allows for the growth to shade out the ground below. Did do them one year but it didn't make any difference the way I grow them.

[Penellype]

If you don't want to earth them up any more, just cover the greenery with fleece to keep the frost off.

[vixylix]

I've covered mine with fleece Dorothy - I like to do things the lazy way

[GreaterMarrow]

I didn't have chance to earth mine up before a couple of frosty nights lately, some were sticking out of the ground 6 inches or so, whereas others were only just poking through. Am I likely to lose them all??

[bramble]

Mine are just covered with green netting and they are well up and doing fine even through this weeks very cold spell, so I guess yours should be fine.

[Martin H]

What happens is the frost kills foliage, turning it black. In my experience they always re-grow, but the crop will be a week or more later than it would have been (depending on how much they have been set back).

[Jungle Jane]

I had a few black leaves last year that were poking out under the cover (I use a plastic tunnel cloche over the tops of the leaves) the potatoes were fine though,it was just a few leaves,they had loads of other leaves).