Get Those Tatties In

It's late for planting potatoes, but there's no point in putting them in until the ground is ready and warming up.

I've started planting mine this week, I'm going to have 5 rows:-

1  of Epicure - An early potato which should be ready in Late June / early July.

2 of Desiree - Main crop - A great roasting potato

2 of Golden Wonder - Main Crop

I particularly chose Golden Wonder and Desiree as they're reputed to be slug resistant, I lost about a 1/3 of my crop last year due to slug damage.

Potatoes Ready for covering with 12" soil.

Some people prefer to plant potatoes at soil level and then regularly earth up as the plants grow, that is you rake the soil up over the plants as they grow. This is a lot of work, I much prefer the following method:-

I dig a trench about 6" deep across the plot, using a string to try and keep a straight row.

I then space out the seed potatoes, about 10" - 12" for main crop, 8" - 10" for earlies. I then dig along side the trench to make another trench piling the soil up over the seed potatoes, to about 12" high.

The 2nd trench acts as a walk-way so I can get along to weed and because the potatoes are 12" deep there's no need for earthing up.

And here's another tip, that will make your money go that little bit further. Each seed potato should be about the size of a golf ball, any that are much larger than this can be cut in half to give you double the plants, as long as you make sure you have a bud on both halves. Try to make sure that each half is of equal size.

Any Large Seed Potatoes Can Be Cut In Two

Make Sure Both Halves Are Of Similar Size And Both Have Growing Tips