A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 late spuds

for one reason or another i didnt lift my last row of maincrop potatoes last autum.
i ran out of my stored spuds, so yesterday i went out to check a root.
well i didnt expect that i would find much, apart from frost damaged or sprouted rejects.
well i didnt find neither! so i dug the whole row up and took them home.
i didnt think they kept in the ground that long.
this time last year i had already planted my earlies, not done them yet this year because its been so cold.
as they say you learn somthing new each day!

Haven't planted mine yet either, it is the right time here to plant them, But my soil is too wet to plant right now and more rain predicted for tomarrow. That is good to know about being able to store your potatoes that long in the ground. What variety did you grow?

they were called valour.
i think they were a new variety, i grew them for the first time last year.
i wont be growing them this year because my others tasted better and they had a higher yield!
still better than the ones we get from the supermarket though!!!

Any home grown potatoe is definately better then store bought. I didn't grow enough last year, and we had to finally buy a bag at the grocery store...$4.00 for a 10 pound bag....I hated having to pay that much for a bag of store bought taters, I'll be growing more this year...I like the red pontiac and thats what i already have to put out this year. I had 2-45 foot rows last year, and this year it will be 3 rows. And it still will proable not be enough.

its strange all the gardening books ive read tell you how to grow spuds, then they finish off by saying there not worth growing because there so cheap to buy!!
they forget to say about the flavour though...
i planted 4-32 foot rows of earlies and 6 rows of maincrop.
i gave loads away, so i know how many to do this year,

potatoes use to be alot cheaper at the supermarket then they are right now. The "old timers" use to grow all of theirs, and save some in the cellar or in the ground in a lined hole. They would use some of these stored potatoes each year to replant the next year... How does that make it cheaper to buy at grocery store Anyway if you don't save a few for seed potatoes, it is still cheaper to grow your own (not counting your labor) I spent $7.00 for 21 pounds of seed potatoes...So if my calculations are right...I'll have way more then three rows.

Th man reason I'm getting back into the garden kick this year is because of all the money we spend on potatoes. I have a large family and we eat potatoes almost everynight! We go through 10-15 lbs a week! I can't wait for my taters this year. I'm thinking of planting more if the heat don't get to bad.

MAIN!!! opps!

ive just put my earlies in trays in the greenhouse.
im still not sure which maincrop to get this year, i keep looking through the catalouges and they all sound good!

Comfrey 21lb should keep you going a fair while!

Detectorbill 10-15lb a week' good job my wife aint peeling them, you would need 20-30lb..

I planted 10 lbs last year and dug up about 30. I thought that was good.

Also I canned some new potatoes with green beans and they sure were good. I plan to do it again this year.

Is is time to plant potatoes? I wait until after frost. But I'm game.

I was always told St Patrick's day is the time to plant 'taters.

I planted mine (Yukon Gold) 3 weeks ago.

Yep..I have always tried to plant around St Patricks day also, I'm late this year and it has been raining for two days now...It will take at least a week of sunny weather before it is hopefully dry enough for me to plant. Sheri...Where you are you could be planting yours also. Coldness doesn't matter as long as the ground doesn't freeze hard.

Thank you. I've got my space cleaned out already but it's raining now so maybe in a few days.

I planted White Cobblers last year and liked them. They are supposed to the potato to judge all potatoes by.

white cobblers, yukon gold!
ive not heard of them over here, i would like be able to compare them to mine, its a long way to go to do a taste test though!

I like to try different kinds of stuff from year to year.

i think im going to try some of the older varieties of maincrop this year, a lot date back more than 60 years, at least they've stood the test of time!

The yukon gold are very tasty taters, they have more of a yellow color when cooked. But I prefer my red taters they seem to have a sweeter taste. I wouldn't mind trying some other kinds, but I don't want to have to pay the price they want for some of them, so I just settle for the choices the local co-op offers, much cheaper and you can pick out the ones you want. One year I picked out all small taters and planted them whole, then I realized the big ones could be cut up into pieces and you actually end up with more and the yield seemed to me to be about the same. Does anyone treat the potato pieces before planting??? My Mom always dusts hers with sulfur, she says it keeps them from rotting and also keeps the pests away from. Knock on wood I have never had a problem with pest's when it comes to taters, no not even potato bugs, But I always plant my beans and taters next to each other and they seem to keep each other pest free.

I cut mine and let them dry for a day or two. Last year I had several that did nothing, when I dug them up they were just like I planted them. But last year the tiller broke down so they sat cut for about 3 weeks before planting.

I've got some purple potatoes that a friend gave me to try. Johnny is supposed to plant them tomorrow.

I have seem pictures of them but never tried any.

This is a first for me too.

I have a question, I planted my tators last weekend. Well not knowing to me it rained for 4 days after that day....now the ground is soaked and they are saying we are only going to have one day of sunshine. Then a couple more days of rain. Is this going to be a problem?

I did cut them, then let them sit for a couple days before I put them into the ground.

Also I planed seeds the same day, I hope this rain has not messed everything.