Learning from previous years when I planted everything very early and got caught out by a late frost, I have decided to hold on a bit this year as I figure that things planted a little late will always catch up pretty quickly. The things that I can't wait any longer for though are my early potatoes - International Kidney and Arran Pilot this year.
The seed potatoes have been chitting away in the garage for a couple of months now, and they are now definitely ready to continue their germination in the soil. Now that I'm on an allotment I don't have the luxury of an MF Tractor with a plough on the back as I have done in the past:
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| Richard Dixon preparing for potatoes at the old plot |
This year it is going to be all done by hand! My process was slightly different to normal as some of the potatoes had fairly long chits on them and I was concerned that they would break when covered in soil, so this is what I did:
- Put out the line and dig a trench 8-10 inches deep
- Sprinkle a good helping of slug pellets in the bottom of the trench
- Place the seed potatoes in the bottom of the trench, with chits facing upwards
- Cover the seed potatoes with general purpose compost
- Sprinkle pelletised chicken manure on top of the compost
- cover the trench over and ridge slightly
It isn't really necessary to put a full ridge over the potatoes yet as I can do that later in the year when they start to appear above the ground. All there is to do now is wait until late June to harvest them!
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| Trench dug and slug pellets sprinkled |
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| Seed potatoes in place |
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| Covering of compost |
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| Chicken manure applied |
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| All planted |
