More Spuds Planted!

Yesterday I judged that it was time to plant the rest of my potatoes. Having planted my First Earlies about a fortnight ago, the remaining ones were mostly Second Earlies, with a couple listed as possible Early Maincrops. I don't generally grow Maincrops, for two reasons: first, their late maturity time makes them vulnerable to blight; and second; their (bigger) size makes them less suitable for growing in the pots I have.

Having been kept indoors on the windowsill of an unheated spare bedroom for the last two months, the chits (shoots) on these potatoes were gratifyingly impressive:

The varieties I planted today were Charlotte (4), Nicola (2), Kestrel (2), Ratte (2), Orla (2) and International Kidney (2).


Following my usual technique, I planted them into the big black plastic pots, making a hole for them in the soil with my trowel and placing them rose-end (the end with most shoots) upwards, and then covered them over to a depth of about 3 inches. As the shoots grow, I will earth them up again with some more soil / compost.

Most of this batch went into my biggest pots - these 35-litre ones:

A few of the lucky ones went into the protection of the "Seedling Greenhouses". Hopefully the extra warmth will bring them on more quickly than the ones out in the open, so that I will have a nice steady succession of harvests.

Now all I have to do (apart from the earthing-up, which is a fairly quick, probably once-off, task), is water them occasionally and wait for them to mature...