I read a suggestion for planting potatoes into containers now, so that you can harvest new ones at xmas. Won't the cold kill them?
Sandy
Christmas potatoes
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
Hello Sandy
These late maturing potatoes are usually planted in August or very early September using specially prepared seed potatoes. There is normally enough warmth and growing time left in the season to get a small crop of new potatoes in time for Christmas. Yes - the cold does get the plants in the end but hopefully not before you've got some nice new potatoes. They are a great treat for us on Boxing Day with the cold turkey and ham but I must say its always roast pots for everyone here on Christmas Day.
The biggest problem with growing them is blight though which starts on the warm damp days we get around this time of year. This year I've got mine in a cold frame with the lid on but the side open and touch wood they're OK at the moment.
John
These late maturing potatoes are usually planted in August or very early September using specially prepared seed potatoes. There is normally enough warmth and growing time left in the season to get a small crop of new potatoes in time for Christmas. Yes - the cold does get the plants in the end but hopefully not before you've got some nice new potatoes. They are a great treat for us on Boxing Day with the cold turkey and ham but I must say its always roast pots for everyone here on Christmas Day.
The biggest problem with growing them is blight though which starts on the warm damp days we get around this time of year. This year I've got mine in a cold frame with the lid on but the side open and touch wood they're OK at the moment.
John
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Doctor Deb
- KG Regular
- Posts: 41
- Joined: Tue Aug 15, 2006 2:09 pm
- Location: beside the M4; Gwent
Can you suggest what I should do with mine, which are in old compost bags and have grown spectacularly in the warm conditions we have had recently. They are starting to flower, but I wanted them for Christmas time. CanI hold them back, or will they be o.k. left undisturbed for a couple of months?
Hello Deb
I don't think that there is any way of holding your plants back!
You'll just have to let them grow on and do their own thing. Do watch out for blight which will soon devaste things at this time of year. Spray against it with either Dithane or a copper fungicide. Remember that these controls are preventative in action they won't cure blight. You need to spray the plants if you think blight might develop; once it has arrived it'll be too late. Even when the top growth has finished and died off the potatoes should be alright in their own compost until Christmas time. They'll be just like new potatoes - don't take them out and bag them up because you'll soon lose the new potato flavour. Once the foliage has died off, remove it and keep the compost only slightly moist. Keep an eye on the weather and beware of a cold spell - anything below about 4°C could spell trouble.
Hope this helps.
John
I don't think that there is any way of holding your plants back!
You'll just have to let them grow on and do their own thing. Do watch out for blight which will soon devaste things at this time of year. Spray against it with either Dithane or a copper fungicide. Remember that these controls are preventative in action they won't cure blight. You need to spray the plants if you think blight might develop; once it has arrived it'll be too late. Even when the top growth has finished and died off the potatoes should be alright in their own compost until Christmas time. They'll be just like new potatoes - don't take them out and bag them up because you'll soon lose the new potato flavour. Once the foliage has died off, remove it and keep the compost only slightly moist. Keep an eye on the weather and beware of a cold spell - anything below about 4°C could spell trouble.
Hope this helps.
John
The Gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men’s lives, the hours spent fishing Assyrian tablet
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
I am a man and the world is my urinal
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
I am a man and the world is my urinal
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Doctor Deb
- KG Regular
- Posts: 41
- Joined: Tue Aug 15, 2006 2:09 pm
- Location: beside the M4; Gwent
Thank you , John.Will follow your advice and let you know if I succeed.