Saturday, 2 May 2009
Potatoes
I hope by next weekend I will posting a picture here of my potatoes planted as it seems to be taking forever. I have prepared 15 bags and I hope to finish at least another 15 this week.
I am determined this year to grow decent potatoes so have gone the extra mile and have really finely sieved the peat, and I mean fine. I always do everything right with potatoes except look after them, so I will spend more time on them this year by ensuring I have halm supports, water well and try to keep the blight off.
Good potatoes get good points and this is where I lost out quite a lot last year. I hate growing potatoes, so much work and then they get blight and even when they are ready you don't actually know for sure unless you tip a few bags out, rendering them useless for show as you need to leave them at least 2 weeks in the bags to set the skins.
The cost is painful, 1x100ltr bale of peat is £7 and this makes me; 3, maximum 3 ½; 17 ltr polypots. Thats almost half a bag of crap and lumps that cant be used in the bags. Note I whack the bags down to ensure they are actually full as they sink and compact after a while, otherwise this would make 6 unwhacked bags lol. I hope to get at least 50 bags done, but then again I change my mind a lot these days.
I am determined this year to grow decent potatoes so have gone the extra mile and have really finely sieved the peat, and I mean fine. I always do everything right with potatoes except look after them, so I will spend more time on them this year by ensuring I have halm supports, water well and try to keep the blight off.
Good potatoes get good points and this is where I lost out quite a lot last year. I hate growing potatoes, so much work and then they get blight and even when they are ready you don't actually know for sure unless you tip a few bags out, rendering them useless for show as you need to leave them at least 2 weeks in the bags to set the skins.
The cost is painful, 1x100ltr bale of peat is £7 and this makes me; 3, maximum 3 ½; 17 ltr polypots. Thats almost half a bag of crap and lumps that cant be used in the bags. Note I whack the bags down to ensure they are actually full as they sink and compact after a while, otherwise this would make 6 unwhacked bags lol. I hope to get at least 50 bags done, but then again I change my mind a lot these days.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Subscribe To Veg4Show
Posts
Comments
3 comments:
Hi Liam,
I know what you mean about the cost.....I try to buy the odd bag over the winter so it's less painful.
For the first time I didn't sieve my compost but I did filter each handful through my fingers and took out any obviously jagged pieces ....bleeding great sticks mainly! As you say it's a ball-ache of a job sieving everything. I've been told you can re-use the compost for 3 or 4 years unless you get blight.
Best of luck. We're all equal at the moment! LOL
Simon
I am testing a few bags this year straight from the bale, just passed through my hands with the nutrients added and see how they get on.
Although a lot of crap does come out when sieving, I'm sure it can not make that much difference to the local shower..odd dent here and there I suppose.
Re-using is fine I have also been told, but I always seem to get blight now propably because of the field next to me grows potatoes. Despite spraying I had blight 2 weeks before lifting and could hardly show any of them from 50 bags.
Best of luck to you Simon aswell, hope we all have a good season this year.
Try useing a shreder much easyer than ridling