Spuds are a great crop for a previously unloved allotment like ours. Dig out a big area, chuck in your seed potatoes, and not only will you get maximum reward for minimum effort but the tunnelling tubers will also get the soil loosened – making it easier to work over for the next crop that goes in there.
We’ve filled a big patch with a variety of early and maincrop potatoes, the theory being that we’ll be munching on the earlies for a few weeks until the maincrops are ready, keeping us in tatties until the frosts arrive.
Potatoes are generally ready to lift when the flowers are in full bloom, usually between 12 and 16 weeks after planting. Except for some strange reason our maincrops are showing off their petals weeks ahead of schedule while the earlier varieties, which should be flowering by now, have yet to show their colours.
I guess with the back-to-front weather we’ve been experiencing this year it’s no surprise that the humble spud has become confused…
