Confused about potato harvest times

[katkatkat]

Hello,

Hoping someone can help me. I've decided to buy some charlotte seed potatoes for second cropping. It's my first time growing potatoes and I'm trying to decide where to plant them but I'm confused about when they will be ready to harvest. Some places on the internet say they need to be out of the ground by November whilst other sites talk about harvesting them for Christmas dinner!

When should I expect to be harvesting Charlotte potatoes planted at the start of August?

I was contemplating using the bed that will become my raspberry bed. I'm getting bare root rasps delivered at the end of November, would the potatoes be done and the bed able to be freed up again for planting by then?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[roitelet]

If you want to harvest potatoes planted now you will have to grow them in buckets,bags or tubs. They will need protection from the frost. Planted in open ground you could loose them to frost especially as you are so far north.

[Bigmallly]

I agree, if planting now ideally you need to grow them undercover.

[maverick451]

I think Blight could be massive issue unless you grow them under cover

[bramble]

Actually, blight and frost damage . Its too,late to plant them in the open and expect them to survive if you are living so far north.Can you plant thrm in contsiners or give them some sort of protection.

[Martin H]

If you plant them now and keep the frost off them they will be ready in November. When the tops die down, cut them off to ground level and leave them until Christmas Eve. Then dig them up and have lovely fresh potatoes for Christmas dinner.

[katkatkat]

Thanks guys,

The places I looked told me nothing about frosts being a problem. Oh dear! I have so much to learn! . Looks like my tatties will go to waste then as I'm in raised beds on a shared site so I can't use containers and have no way to grow them undercover.

Oh well, will mark it down in the lessons learnt.

[maverick451]

stick them in the ground and pull them up in 3 months, you can only try

[Jungle Jane]

You could put some potato bags or buckets in the raised bed,wrap fleece around them in the autumn if you need to or put a plastic tunnel cloche balanced on top of the haulms when frost is forecast. I've had a few black leaves from frost,the plastic tunnel cloche protected the majority of leaves. Planting in the raised bed should be ok too,the ground stays warmer a bit longer than the air temperature & protect from frost in the same way & maybe use a straw mulch. November wasn't too cold last year just a few frosts so it's good to check the weather forecasts.

[WendyC]

The adverts for "Christmas " potatoes do annoy me as the companies make out they are selling a completely different variety of potato, not just ones which have been in cold store for longer than the others. Rarely a mention of the problems that growing outside of the natural seasons brings.