Bridie has a problem with her potatoes & after reading about Potato Cyst Eelworm she thought she may have found the answer
“Think I might have this as yellow leaves and dying off but no cysts to be seen. Have photo”
These are the two photos of Bridie’s potato leaves:
They certainly look sick! Read More »
Lincolnshire Potato & Sausage Festival, or the Lincoln Bangers & Mash Bash, is on Saturday 25 October 2008.
Well timed at the end of the potato season, gardeners are invited to take their questions & samples to the Lincoln Castle grounds, to ask the experts how they can grow even better potatoes in their gardens.
This family event offers: Read More »
These Maris Bard new potatoes have been in the ground since April 5th - that is 10 weeks and 5 days between planting and harvest.
New potatoes are lifted when they are quite small. The size at harvest is really up to the gardener. Some people prefer a lot of small new potatoes on the plate, whilst others like them to be larger.
Click this link for a video showing how to tell if new potatoes are ready to harvest.
New potatoes mature earlier than main crop, and are usually ready by 10 - 12 weeks after planting.
The international year of the potato is witnessing an Andean war of words over where exactly the potato originated.
Peru and Chile have each been laying claim to the origin of the potato, but now Bolivia have entered the fray.
Chile dispute the bulk of scientific evidence — and the UN potato website — suggesting the potato was first cultivated near Lake Titicaca in southern Peru. Chile claim the potato first grew on Chile’s southern Chiloe Island, citing DNA tests showing that almost all the 7,000 potato varieties in the Netherlands have Chilean origins. The Chileans say the studies show that more than 90 percent of modern potato varieties outside the Andes have a common origin in potatoes once found in the area around Chiloé Island, in southern Chile.
Peruvian potato experts point to genetic studies showing that all potatoes currently eaten in the world originated more than 10,000 years ago from a single ancestor, Solanum brevicaule, found on the north shore of Lake Titicaca. That would be on the Peruvian side, not in Bolivia.
Bolivia do not agree. They say they have evidence that the potato originated on their side of Lake Titicaca. The origin of the potato is in dispute!
The vegetable gardener should inspect the potato leaves daily to look for potato blight.
Potatoes are growing very quickly in the warm damp weather. These warm, damp conditions are the ideal environment for potato blight.
Early potatoes are relatively safe because they can be eaten before the potato blight does any damage.
Related articles:
Are my potatoes ready to harvest?
How to deal with potatoes that look ready.
e-book ‘How to Grow Potatoes’.
Keeping an eye open for potato blight keeps the gardener in control, so regular inspections of the potatoes are wise.
Why are potatoes ridged up with earth?
How long should earthing up potatoes continue?
If the potato row is 30 inches wide, the ridge is usually about 6 inches above soil level. Any higher and the soil runs down as there is a natural angle of repose.
The potatoes have started to grow as the temperature rises, and it is easy to start to ridge them up as they grow. The potato seed was planted shallowly, just covered with soil, so that it would come out quickly. When the shoots are about 12 cm above the ground, the base of the stalk is covered with soil. It does not matter if one or two of the bottom leaves are covered with soil, but the main shoot must remain uncovered.
Potato seed can be planted in ten easy steps, after marking out the plot. Chitted seed is sometimes used.
10 steps to Plant Potato Seed:
1. Early potato seed is planted at a distance of 30cm between the seed
Main crop potato seed is planted at a distance of 40cm between the seed Read More »
It is worth spending a little time to mark out the potato patch, before planting seed potatoes.
1. assemble tools - rake, canes, string, tape measure.
2. remove the cover from the bed to reveal dry soil Read More »
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