Digging Up Potatoes

I dug up my potatoes today. It was my first time growing them, and many people I have spoken to have said they don't bother as they cost nothing in the shop. I can see where they are coming from, and they have taken a long time to grow, but I haven't yet decided whether I will pass on growing them next year or not.

I have grown 3 varieties. Hunter, Charlotte and Swift

I haven't had much luck with Swift - you can see it in the photo above, the grow bag next to the watering can. They started to grow well, but after the 3rd or 4th time I added compost to the grow bag the plant stopped growing through. Therefore I have only harvested a very small amount. All the seed potatoes grew as I found the skin among the compost.

Hunter produced a good amount, especially as I dug them up second and so was rather disheartened.

Charlotte also came up with a nice little crop. Considering I grew them is bags it's not a bag little harvest!

I took the bags to the top of the garden so I could reuse the compost. As you can see, the garden slopes down, so I have noticed that over time, roots have started to show in established shrubs. I used the fork to turn over the soil and it's just a question of time for the worms to do their thing. However, there are a couple of things I would like to show you. 

This splitting of the potato is because of too much water while the tuber is growing, according to the research I have done on the internet. Only one potato suffered from that and it was the Hunter variety.

The second photo I want to show you worried me a little more. I still don't know what 100 per cent what has caused this on the potatoes. There are 2 reasons; one I can solve easily for next time. The other will mean I might have to cover the area of compost.

The Swift potatoes do not have this, whereas some in the Hunter and Charlotte bag do. The first thing I found was that it could be drought stress. We've had quite a dry start of summer and that might be the cause for some potatoes to develop these bumps. When I tipped the bags, there were patched where the compost was absolutely dry. I can work with that and bear it in mind for the next crop.

The second reason, however, is what worries me. It could be Root Knot Nematode. It's caused by a microscopic worm that lays eggs on the surface of the potato. You can eat them if you skin them but boyfriend and I just don't like the idea of it, so I have disposed of the ones that have the most "nodes". What worries me, however, is that it can be in the compost I have just tipped onto the garden. Apparently the best thing to do is to cover the area with a transparent plastic, so the heat of the sun kills it. I have yet to find any pesticide that will do the trick. I really, really hope it was simply drought, but I might invest in some plastic just to be on the safe side.

 If you have come across this in your potatoes please share what it was and if it was a pest, how you ensured it did not affect future crops. I guess I am lucky to a certain extent in the sense that I do not use the garden solely for vegetables and so have a natural rotation and variation of things growing. Fingers crossed nothing will come of it!

Edible Garden - update 15.04.2015

After dipping into Alys's excellent book, I decided to try and sow directly in some areas of the garden. I have been quite hesitant to plant anything directly which is not in pots, but I figured won't ever be able to improve if I don't try. If it works, great. If it doesn't, make a note of why and change it for next time.

So, I have used one bed in the garden for a small crop, and will try my hand at companion planting while I'm at it. So, here I have lettuce, spring onion and carrot. Not sure if the string is supposed to be there, but for me personally it helps me know where I have sowed should I want to add any flowers. Poppies, for example, could be grown with carrots. I have a fear of attracting carrot fly, so I invested in a big tall pot and thought I try to grow a smaller variety there, and use mint as the companion plant. After giving the seeds a sniff, I can totally understand why the fly wants the carrots; the smell is exquisite!

I also planted 3 peas, I want to try and grow Sugar Ann snap peas. We'll see how they go. If nothing happens, I might try again in the greenhouse and then plant them out. Not sure what that random lonely shoot is...

My mother-in-law likes courgettes, so I am trying to grow some for her. I only sowed 3 seeds at first, to see how it goes. I also sowed some calendula (marigold) around it as those two seem to be good for companion planting. I'm hoping that at least one of the seeds will germinate and make a nice little display on that bed.

Strawberries I'm really excited about. Birds stealing my fruit is something that is worrying me, but I will invest in a net and some hooks in the next couple of weeks. Birds never come to the part of garden nearest to the house as we have a cat that treats our garden and that of our neighbours at each side as her playground - I know she poos in mine, I have seen her digging!! Not impressed. Anyway, what I mean by that is that hopefully the strawberries in the tub will be safe... We'll see. I can always cover them up too.

Do people net spinach, kale and salad leaves too? Something else I need to look into. So far, I have taken the spinach and salad leaved out of the modules they were in because they were annoying me, all floppy. The salad leaves have been in the pot for a couple of days and it might be wishful thinking but I could swear some of the leaves have got bigger!  They are still living in the greenhouse for now, but I think they will go out in May.

Lastly, the potatoes! All of the bags are finally showing signs of growth. I am waiting patiently to cover the leaves up. I had the 3 bags sitting in a huge plastic tray so they wouldn't dry out, but I just found the water would collect from random showers during the day and the sacks would be sitting in an inch or two of water all day. So I have them sitting about in a little trio. 

From Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang to the Gro-Sack

Last weekend was a very productive one. I had a shortened day at school on Friday, so I made the most of the afternoon and potted some bare-root strawberries that arrived on the day, and I planted my seed potatoes that have been chitting for a while. I'm a little concerned that a couple looked a bit on the green side and soft, but I'll hope for the best and see how it goes.

I had ordered the whole kit from Marshall's at the beginning of February, I think. They send you 3 varieties of potatoes. In my case I got Charlotte, Hunter and Swift. They send 5 seed potatoes of each, some potato food and 3 Gro-sacks. As I don't have a lot of "allotment space" in the back garden, I thought growing them like this would be best - I think I will be growing a few things in pots, too. It works as follows:

1. Put some soil in the bottom of the sack. I think I put about 3 inches or so.
2. Mix the soil with the "food" - which came in the pack.
3. Place potatoes with shoots facing upwards.
4. Cover potatoes until you cannot see them.
5. This is optional, but label them if you want to know which ones grow best in your weather and soil conditions and to plant again in the future.

I've done it on the cheap side in the sense that I have not bought specific compost for it. I had a bag that I had to finish and a second one I got on offer of multipurpose compost - although they sell it as potting compost specifically. I don't know if it'll make a difference what type of compost you use. Time will tell!

I'm a tad worried that we can still get frosts; according to the BBC weather app, we could get to 1ºC this week! I might bring them into the greenhouse for a couple of days it it feels too cold.