potatoes day... and more

Another busy day in the garden…

After I’ve been in shops I found some packet of seed potatoes 8 for 99p so I thought to buy some of them and try to grow them in container…. In the last week I found a lot of flower bucket from supermarket so I decided to plant them one seed potato for each bucket…

I’ve bought only 2 varieties : red duke of York and sharp express only because I thought to try some first early potato considered that the  buckets are only 10 litre big so a main crop wouldn’t succeed in that small space…

I plant 16 buckets of potatoes and I put ¼ of the bucket with compost, then I placed the seed potato and then another ¼ of compost… when then potato will grow I will earthing up until the bucket is full only leaving 3 cm from the top… because the temperature is still a bit cold even if is not frost I pop out one of my mini polytunnel and cover them up..

After that I sowed some more carrots and spring onion in a 12 inch container, transplant the first trial I did a week ago, and then I pop them under the mini polytunnel (considered that was still a bit of space for 2 more pots) and I sowed as well 8 broad beans the Sutton (because the first batch is not germinate yet and I thought to plant a safety batch in case they don’t germinate) and 8 peas kelvedon wonder (the same reason)…

Then the weather was getting very dull so I moved back inside the kitchen and I transplant some of my seedling that were in the unheated propagator on the windowsill.  

The seedlings were:

4 garden delight tomatoes

1 nasturtium thumb tom

2 broccoletto quarantino riccio

2 kale dwarf green curled.

Now is time for me to relax and enjoy my cup of tea…

30/04/12: my potato are growing well even if the weather is not the best

07/05/12: after 1 week  the potato are doing well

as you can see on the above picture the flower bucket are full now and no more earthing up is required.... i think at the end of may i will be able to harvest them...

12/05/12: keep growing

 after not even 1 week my potatoes are growing very well... i have to say that maybe a bit of sunshine and the temperature over night about 7 degrees have helped them... i can smell potatoes in the air...

nice lovely plant

 well everyone know that this year is not been a nice year... we start with end of march with nice sunny day, April like December, may very cold and frost in the beginning and hot almost 30c at the end and June well.... rain, rain, rain and more rain.
but the potato plant seem to grow very well but underneath the potato are still small after 14 weeks ( they supposed to be ready in 10 weeks).

when i pull up some of them the quantity was so small but full in flavour... been the first year growing them and considered the challenge weather i considered a victory and definitely to try next year and chit them at the beginning of march...