Potatoes

[stwat]

I bought this a while back, https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BC1IA3K/?tag=amazon0e9db-21
On advice, I have waited until the late cold snap fecked off before planting. So with the lovely spring sunshine we had yesterday, I decided to get them in the tubs and started.
I'm rather looking forward to the results. I have never grown them before by the way. :'(
I did plant some Garlic at the end of last year and they seem to be doing great so far. I have at least 20 that have sprouted up through Mother Earth.
This gardening shit is rather enjoyable, much to my surprise. But it is rather challenging to me at the mo, due to CTS in both my wrists and hands.
Now, where's me pipe and slippers?

 

[TheFoX]

Even though I have an allotment plot, I prefer to grow my tates in tubs, simply because when I want to harvest I can empty a tub into a wheelbarrow and sift through looking for tates, while putting the used compost back into the tub ready for disposal.

I now have six tubs which is the ideal number for a bag of seed potatoes, and as soon as I start emptying the first tub (earlies), I'll start re-filling for my maincrop. The other thing is that even after the stems have died off, you can leave those tates in the compost for weeks or even months and it'll act as a store, ready for when you want to harvest.

Like all new ventures, it'll take you a season or two to work out exactly how to want to plan and harvest your tates, but it is well worth it.

In my garden plot I grow tates, stringless runners, onions and tomatoes. I have had a go at cabbages and sprouts, but if you have an infestation of the cabbage white butterfly, it ruin your crop (I lost my whole crop of sprouts a few years back).

You'll love it when you start harvesting those tates.

 

[optimusprime]

Stwat i have been growing apple trees i have 8 that i have grown from seeds out of my apple cores.
Also along with the apples i have a lemon coming through all in pots on the kitchen window sill .Soon be time to put them out doors
Nothing like your own produce potatoes . Soon be tomato time .Need to take seeds from a nice tomato and start them off or i will be to late .
Good luck with the potatoes ,bit of lamb and mint sauce, along with a few nice home grown spuds ..broad beans and peas .Any one for lunch ?

 

[TheFoX]

A few years back, I was given some cauliflower seeds. When they were big enough, I harvested the cauliflower and cooked it. I cannot even being to say how much tastier they were to Tesco cauli. It's almost like something I have never tasted before. Now I know that they say that farming leeches all the nutrients out of the ground and that veg today has far fewer nutrient than those of 70 years ago, but until you taste home grown you would never know the difference.

Also, when you grow your own, you can swap with friends, so I always swap extra crop for something I'm not growing.

 

[optimusprime]

TheFox I know just what your saying , and its right Like picking a hand full of sprouts to fill the plate on Christmas morning fresh with the frost on them .They do melt in your mouth and not to strong . I am waiting for my friend next door to say i can purchase his greenhouse .The chaps health is poor , sorry to say , and has to look after his wife . He told me last year not to buy one just yet. Then i will go in to toms big time , along with my beans outside we will be ok .

 

[TheFoX]

Growing veg and flowers is the closest us men will ever get to giving birth. You should see the smile on my face when those seeds suddenly become seedlings just breaking the surface of the soil or compost.

And...

We don't suffer the pains of childbirth.

Win win all the way.

 

[DSM10000]

I completely agree.

We grow tomatoes, courgettes, garlic, broad beans, green beans, leeks, runner beans, many sorts of salad leaves, beetroot, sweetcorn etc.

It is joyous to be able to stroll out of the house, pick what you want for a meal and use those ingredients to make superb food, this along with the fresh eggs makes for a very happy life at times.

 

[optimusprime]

dsm yes you are the same as us .Some plants i have on the kitchen window sill . I lift them all off the sill when it gets dark .And put them by the radiator . I am in to oranges now .As one pip fell out my orange as i was eating it . Thats my next project ha ha strange but true .

 

[Deleted member 6183]

My Mrs is getting into fermentation so we have a kitchen windowsill of kilner jars full of fermenting carrots and garlic.

 

[stwat]

I'm also growing Gallic for the first time, which all seem to be growing great.
I've been growing chillies for a number of years now with good success. I have some Bolivian Rainbows on the go this year.