Friday 13 April 2018

Tight Wad Potato Planting.

I finally managed to plant my HOMEGUARD seed potatoes yesterday.  They were first bred during WW2 and hence their name.  But in the words of Corporal Jones:

 "Don't panic.."  

We dug trenches last Sunday.  It was a bit heavy going (like my music) and soil and muck started sticking to my spade.  Any gardener worth their salt or soil.  Will tell you shouldn't turn the soil if the earth is sticking to your boots and spade.  But its April and we normally have them planted by Paddy's Day at the latest.  

Any road or any way.  The trenches and ridges worked a treat.  And the plot dried out really well in the last four days.  It also helped that the rain clouds didn't visit so often during the week.


 So what did you plant Dave?  I went to my German garden centre (Lidl) and bought two bags of seed potatoes.          

                                                                                                                                 

Then we did cut them in half (like the farmers and tight wad smallholders like your truly do) and placed them in a old plastic salad box I rescued from a fridge and we left them to chit for a couple of weeks.  In fact that is wrong, sorry!  We chitted them for a couple of weeks and then we cut them in half and left them to heal for a few days.


Then I barrowed some fym and forked it into the trenches and planted the cut in half seed potatoes.

Afterwards.  All covered up.  We placed dogwood cuttings for markers to show where the potatoes are.  Then I will earth them up when they start pushing their shoots Heaven wards.  Just twelve weeks and we will be eating them.  It will probably be red hot ("yeah right") and we will be saying:

"It's too hot to be eating potatoes!"

Have you planted yours yet?

16 comments:

  1. My answer to your final question is NO! But then I don't buy them either. Love potatoes but they don't seem to love me these days. You are lucky to have the space to cultivate fresh veg.

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  2. Thanks Valerie. You could always grow some in a big plant pot. I once grew some in a plant pot when we lived in a flat. We had them flowering in the front window and they tasted very nice.

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  3. mine are still chitting. They dont seem to be doing much

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    1. Hi Sol. I have grown them without chits too. They still grow. They just take a bit longer. I once met an allotment grower who grew his spuds from potatoes skins. Now that is tight wad gardening. Thanks.

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  4. German garden centre..... I buy little pots of herbs from them now and again.
    Haven't had rain here for a while. I'll have to water the plants today. Potatoes are mainly a winter crop here ... Like lettuce
    After all that hard work hope your potatoes grow and multiply

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    1. Ps what would Orland do without potatoes. Are they the national symbol..like Wales and the leek

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    2. Yes LA. Lidl is my garden centre. It's cost us five Euro's for six rows of potatoes.

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    3. I think the harp is the symbol for Ireland. I use to grow Kerr Pinks and British Queens. But now I grow what ever is in my German garden centre. Thanks!

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  5. Dave, quick question, how long does it take for your griselinia take to strike from cuttings? I am going to ask a neighbour whose hedge is really over grown if I can take some cuttings. I need to get wind breaks in the garden. I am thinking staggered to buff the wind. do you have to do this in your growing area?

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  6. They are pretty slow growing at first Sol. Late June to July is a good time to take cuttings but they are not dear to buy. I would suggest you buy some rooted hedging for now. Olearia is a lovely flowering hedge and it's leathery leaves are very salt and wind tolerant. Have you tried wind fabric tied to sticks or hurdles? You could always take griselinia cuttings and sell them next year. I have over fifty in pots and ready to plant or sell. Hope you have a great growing season Sol. Any local nursery or garden centre will give you good advice on coastal hedging. Fuschia or rugosa rose rose look well but they are decidous. Good luck.

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  7. Cool will have a look at it all

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  8. Shelter belts from walls, hurdles, windbreak fabric and hedging all help coastal gardens. Look forward to seeing some more Cornwall photos Sol.

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  9. Congratulations on setting your spuds. We only grow flowers and fruit. Today we bought and cooked our first pot of new potatoes, they could have been Egyptian. They still had sand on them, so I lightly peeled them. Delicious with a salmon steak and a glass of Merlot.

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  10. Thanks Gwil. We bought some new potatoes the other week. If you can peel them with your thumb nail, they are freshly dug. I grow quite a lot of perennials and we bought some sweet peas plants yesterday. Would like to grow Dahlias from seed. Thanks!

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  11. Finally put my potatoes in today Dave. The weather has been difficult so a bit behind. Nothing wrong with tight wadishness when smallholding.

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  12. Hi Philip. It actually feels like an achievement planting the potatoes this year. I have been weeding the veg plot and it's starting to look like it belongs to someone again. You have to be tight waddish to survive,

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