This week in your Kitchen Garden.

[iona]

ION, I bought some Swift seed potatoes. According to the seed merchant's info harvest is May/June. Does that sound plausible? If so I could plant them where the courgettes and runner beans are going.

I bought some potato growing bags but they say to only plant 1 spud per bag so I'll have lots left over.

Looking back through this thread, I started pulling first earlies mid-June and they weren't an especially early variety. Late May / early June is totally possible if you're able to plant them nowish without frost being much of a worry.

(For growing in containers I tend to plant one potato per 10 litres btw)

 

[The39thStep]

ION, I bought some Swift seed potatoes. According to the seed merchant's info harvest is May/June. Does that sound plausible? If so I could plant them where the courgettes and runner beans are going.

I bought some potato growing bags but they say to only plant 1 spud per bag so I'll have lots left over.

Yes they are very early however whilst it great to have early spuds this variety in my book lacks a bit of taste . Worth doing though rather than do nowt .

 

[iona]

I'm like a kid in a sweet shop when it comes to buying seed potatoes Managed to sell a load on to gardening customers at cost this year, so I've been able to get a few new varieties to try without needing to dedicate the whole allotment to spuds.

 

[campanula]

Ah, yep, it's tomatoes which does that to me, iona. Have got a couple of oddities this year including a true species type (L.humboldtii) as well as the absolutely stupendous millefleur. I grew these a coupla years ago, on a whim (I am usually immune to hype in the vegetable world), but they turned out to produce quite astonishing 2ft wide trusses with hundreds of cherry size yellow tomatoes which all the kids were mad for. Let me know if you fancy having a go, iona and I will pop a few in the post. Have also got 'Matt's Wild Cherry' 'Skykomish' and a hopeful cross between a supposedly original 'Gardener's Delight' and the really flavoursome 'Dr.Carolyn' (Gardener's Ecstasy). Plus a coupla F1s for customers ('Cocktail Crush' and 'Crimson Crush') as well as my own personal favourite, Chadwick Cherry. I don't grow black tomatoes anymore because they always have leathery skins, but I capitulated over an almost totally black one from Real Seeds (name escapes me). Have also given up on potato-leaf types such as Bloody Butcher and Matina...which I used to grow as blight avoiding earlies but am doing a greenhouse grow again so not bothering with 55day transplants.

I went to a potato day, a few years ago, and came home with over 2 dozen potato varieties (and immediately lost the labels) but these days, I tend to stick with first and second earlies, (my favourite Kestrel, Red Duke of York and a salad (have Casablanca this year). I only grow a few maincrop Pink Firs as I don't get my potatoes in until the end of April or even mid-May (because frosts) while irrigation is always a struggle in my sandy soil, so I want a 10 week cropping.

 

[iona]

Ah, yep, it's tomatoes which does that to me, iona. Have got a couple of oddities this year including a true species type (L.humboldtii) as well as the absolutely stupendous millefleur. I grew these a coupla years ago, on a whim (I am usually immune to hype in the vegetable world), but they turned out to produce quite astonishing 2ft wide trusses with hundreds of cherry size yellow tomatoes which all the kids were mad for. Let me know if you fancy having a go, iona and I will pop a few in the post. Have also got 'Matt's Wild Cherry' 'Skykomish' and a hopeful cross between a supposedly original 'Gardener's Delight' and the really flavoursome 'Dr.Carolyn' (Gardener's Ecstasy). Plus a coupla F1s for customers ('Cocktail Crush' and 'Crimson Crush') as well as my own personal favourite, Chadwick Cherry. I don't grow black tomatoes anymore because they always have leathery skins, but I capitulated over an almost totally black one from Real Seeds (name escapes me). Have also given up on potato-leaf types such as Bloody Butcher and Matina...which I used to grow as blight avoiding earlies but am doing a greenhouse grow again so not bothering with 55day transplants.

I went to a potato day, a few years ago, and came home with over 2 dozen potato varieties (and immediately lost the labels) but these days, I tend to stick with first and second earlies, (my favourite Kestrel, Red Duke of York and a salad (have Casablanca this year). I only grow a few maincrop Pink Firs as I don't get my potatoes in until the end of April or even mid-May (because frosts) while irrigation is always a struggle in my sandy soil, so I want a 10 week cropping.

Oh go on then, twist my arm Let me know if there's anything you'd like in return - that house tomato is really good for kids or anyone without much outdoor growing space. Got heaps of other stuff too as usual, both veg and flowers. Just done a massive Chiltern order with other people's money so if there's anything at all you fancy, just say and I'll see if I can dig up either that or something similar.

I've been really slack with seed sowing this year, barely got anything started yet. Tomato-wise I'm limited without a greenhouse so just gone with the house toms, Maskotka and Latah which have done well for me in the past, and Texas Wild from HSL which I've not tried before. Spuds I've got Pentland Javelin and Home Guard for first earlies; Dunbar Rover, Kestrel and Ratte for second earlies and a few maincrop Carolus and Blue Annelise (purple potatoes!).

 

[Fairweather]

I bought some Gemson second earlies and Pink Fir Apple a few weeks ago and got some more seed potatoes and onion sets this afternoon.

 

[campanula]

Me too (bit slow with seeds) - have had my broad beans sitting on the kitchen table for weeks, ffs. Tomatoes do act as a trigger for me though, so am hoping to get cracking this week. O yeah, enough water has passed under the bridge to have forgotten the massive ball-ache of peas...so I am growing Telephone and petit pois, this year. I did stock up on shitloads of poundland netting. I am growing my own tobacco again too (having failed completely to give up ciggies). I grew Burley and basic tabacum (from Chilterns iirc) so, along with all the other nicotianas, I am going to get half a dozen baccy ones...and make a better fist of drying and curing. Has to be better than the awful verbascum I have been adulterating American Spirit with( amongst other things).
I have to do a customer order but they are dithering about what they want. I did persuade them to use their massive, empty conservatory this year, so am going to do chillies, peppers and aubergines...but have left it a bit late for pepper seeds so will just buy a few plants).
How are you with citrus, iona? I have had a meyer lemon for years but just as it looks like it might be getting it together, scale, frost or just basic neglect scuppers any chances of fruit but this year, I swear, I am going to get right on it since it has taken 4 years to build a framework after dying back to a stump. As always, have too much going on to pay attention to most things...and then I feel all guilty and go into head in sand mode.
Will pop some of the multiflora tomato seeds in post (they are honestly an eye-opener).
Don't think I need anything, tbh apart from some deep red cosmos (Rubenza) I need to order. O yeah, will pop some tagetes 'Cinnabar' in post - I saw this, growing throughout a huge perennial border last summer (at Helmingham Hall) and collected seeds as it was such a fantastic show - not at all like those stumpy little marigolds, but a good 75cm tall, bushy and floriferous. Have given out seeds to pretty much everyone I know so some will be on your way too. I think they are the variety grown at Gt.Dixter.

 

[seeformiles]

More cress

 

[iona]

campanula I only got my broad beans in today and I usually sow late autumn, so that's like five months it's taken me to get round to it

Dug up a few stray spuds today so I've taken the best ones home for tea and chucked the rest in the compost, where they'll no doubt do better than the potatoes I've carefully chitted and planted and taken care of. Parsnip thinnings I composted a while ago are growing away quite happily in there atm

 

[gentlegreen]

I'm going to have me a tub of tomatoes for grazing - outdoors - unless I come across some polythene somewhere.
(typical of me to want to do this after dismantling my greenhouse)
I used to like Gardener's Delight, but I read that they are tending to bit unreliable these days ?
Perhaps I'll plant some tagetes with them ...

 

[contadino]

I've grown gardeners delight for the last few years and they've been great. Loads germinated (seeds now 3 years old and still came good this year), cropped well and tasted great. They're not my overall favourite variety (that's currently Big Daddy) but I can't see me ever not growing them.

 

[Saunders]

Question. When it says ‘plant your chitted potatoes 12cm/ 5 inches, does that mean 5 inches earth on top of them? Or 5 inches deep hole and cover them over? Not just potatoes but this is what I’m doing today. With a tulip bulb it doesn’t seem to matter and somewhere in try middle works but I’ve never tried potatoes before.

 

[The39thStep]

Question. When it says ‘plant your chitted potatoes 12cm/ 5 inches, does that mean 5 inches earth on top of them? Or 5 inches deep hole and cover them over? Not just potatoes but this is what I’m doing today. With a tulip bulb it doesn’t seem to matter and somewhere in try middle works but I’ve never tried potatoes before.

Five inch deep hole or more tbh . Years ago people would dig a trench put some muck in and then the potatoes , cover it up and make a v ridge . The idea is that the potato sprouts in the hole or trench, send leaves up and then underneath the potatoes tubers grow in the soil in the dark and are blanched ie not green. Its helpful to earth up the potato shoots when they come through the soil as that helps them grow more roots and therefore grows more tubers.

Worth buying some potato fertiliser as well.

 

[iona]

Yeah I plant potatoes a full spade's depth at least, and earth up about another foot above ground level as they grow.

 

[Saunders]

Thanks so much The39thStep and iona i shall look into it more and read your instructions before planting the other half of them. I just did two rows of 7, one row where there was a good 5 inch soil on top, the other where each potato went into a 5 inch hole.

 

[iona]

I mean it doesn't really matter either way since you'll be earthing them up anyway right?

 

[Saunders]

I mean it doesn't really matter either way since you'll be earthing them up anyway right?

Yeah? I think ‘earthing them up’ means covering with a bit more soil once the shoots appear above ground 2 or 3 times over the next 3 or 4 weeks?

 

[iona]

Yeah? I think ‘earthing them up’ means covering with a bit more soil once the shoots appear above ground 2 or 3 times over the next 3 or 4 weeks?

Something like that, maybe slightly longer? I know when to do mine by how they look, rather than how long ago they were planted, iyswim.

If you're planting in rows then pull earth up towards the centre of the row from either side (so lower leaves are buried but stems remain upright), rather than dumping it onto the plants from directly above.

 

[The39thStep]

Yeah? I think ‘earthing them up’ means covering with a bit more soil once the shoots appear above ground 2 or 3 times over the next 3 or 4 weeks?

Yup, if you don't earth them up enough some of the tubers will end up partially exposed and they'll go green ( from the light) and will be uneatable. Dont skimp on soil depth .

 

[iona]

 

[The39thStep]

When I was in the UK and had allotments I used to grow loads of spuds and had one of these. Providing the soil is friable ( ie no clay) it didn't half save some time

 

[andysays]

View attachment 316163

That is proper old school allotment gardening.

For those who can't be doing with all that digging, there is an alternative.



I'm off to sow my parsnips this afternoon.

 

[Saunders]

When I was in the UK and had allotments I used to grow loads of spuds and had one of these. Providing the soil is friable ( ie no clay) it didn't half save some time

View attachment 316165

What is that and what is it used for?

 

[gentlegreen]

I've seen several YT videos recently where people found that simply planting spuds deeply beat earthing up, straw bales and other complicated methods..
I suppose it might be opportune to ask a Peruvian or Irish person how they do it ...

 

[contadino]

I've seen several YT videos recently where people found that simply planting spuds deeply beat earthing up, straw bales and other complicated methods..
I suppose it might be opportune to ask a Peruvian or Irish person how they do it ...

Yeah, I just plant mine deep. At least a spit and a half. If it's still nippy when they start showing I'll make a slapdash attempt to earth them up but I haven't needed to the last few years.

That said I plant late - wouldn't dream of putting them in before mid-April. Last year it was 5th May (and it started snowing when I was doing them).

 

[andysays]

What is that and what is it used for?

It's a bulb planter - useful for making holes instead of using a trowel or an ordinary spade when you have loads to do.

 

[The39thStep]

What is that and what is it used for?

 

[Saunders]

Aha. Great, thanks.

 

[iona]

I've seen several YT videos recently where people found that simply planting spuds deeply beat earthing up, straw bales and other complicated methods..
I suppose it might be opportune to ask a Peruvian or Irish person how they do it ...

I'm on pretty much pure clay. Piling compost up on top is easier than double digging the whole row!

 

[gentlegreen]

I suppose I will inevitably grow spuds in a future "potager" because home-grown spuds are a gourmet treat .
I don't know what technique I will be using ... it will depend on how cheaply I can source woodchip for the"lasagna" / "Back to Eden" set-up I'm gravitating towards... doubtless there will also be straw involved ..