Planted my early potatoes

[vegetable-gardener]

I planted my early potatoes yesterday. They are red duke of york potatoes and we love them. These were last years. Can't wait for this years.

[Nicola_D]

ooh have you planted in the ground or a container? Mine need planting out soon, but I'm worried about the cold days we've had recently. Not sure when the last frost will be round here (south yorkshire)

[kaz]

hi nicola
i used the following site to help with that info on frosts

Gardening and weather - first and last frost dates in the UK, Australia and USA

[vegetable-gardener]

I've planted them in the ground. We are in cornwall. When we used to grow organic vegetable for a living we figured this out which works really well. When we planted our potatoes early there is a likely hood of frost. When the green shoots are showing and a frost has hit them - then before the sun comes out water the potato plants with a watering can lightly - this will defrost the plants and you won't or hardly have any damage to them. It has worked for years for us.

[tomterm8]

That sounds really interesting. What do red duke of york potatoes taste like? I don't think I have tried them. I tried pink fir apples a few years back and they were really good, but hard to clean... so I'm probably going to look for a new variety this year.

[malcolmx]

most frost damage is caused by sun scorch thu the frost so spraying certainly helps It wont help if the leaf or fruit is frozen when the cells have been ruptured thu expansion of frozen water i plant a little deeper and straw and earth my potatoes as shoots appear . i put a layer of straw and then cover with earth to give a warm covering then dig in the straw when i dig up the potatoes

[vegetable-gardener]

Brilliant idea Malcolm.
The red duke of york are our favourites because the taste really nice - sometimes a new potato has very little flavour. These are flavoursome and just very nice. I also grew the pink fir but the red duke of york are totally different they are more robust.

Well worth a try.

[smeagal]

Originally Posted by vegetable-gardener

I planted my early potatoes yesterday. They are red duke of york potatoes and we love them. These were last years. Can't wait for this years.

I looked them up in the Sutton's cataloge but I thought they were a bit expensive @£7 for 3 kgs plus shipping.
I wonder if anyone knows if Wilkinson's or the like do them cheaper in store?

[vegetable-gardener]

I bought them from my local garden centre. Know idea what the weight was of the bag but I think the cost was about 4.50.

[tomterm8]

Originally Posted by vegetable-gardener

The red duke of york are our favourites because the taste really nice - sometimes a new potato has very little flavour. These are flavoursome and just very nice. I also grew the pink fir but the red duke of york are totally different they are more robust.

Well worth a try.

That sounds really interesting, I think I will have a look in the garden centre this weekend for some.

Thanks

[vegetable-gardener]

My potatoes are just coming up - have attached a photo.

[Nicola_D]

good site Kaz thanks, it says the last frost for us is early may :-( I bought some garden fleece though so I'll just keep an eye in the weather forcasts and put their snuggly quilts on when there's a risk of frost but I'll try the watering tip if I get caught out. I'm growing mine in containers and the shoots have just started to poke through, how big should I let them get before i cover them with more soil?

[Hammer]

Earth them up when they are about 9 inches high, you can earth up gradually but i think it makes little difference. You might put some slug pellets in there if slugs are a problem.

Regards Hammer