Saturday 14 November 2009

A spud gamble!

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, where only yesterday I was planting some first earlies spuds! Way back in the spring, our darling daughter Ruby planted 1 seed potato in a patio container - this being a concrete boot ornament - which was never going to amount to a great harvest, but we didn't want to knock her enthusiasm. Sure enough, the plant put on great growth. When the time of harvest was reached, Ruby was delighted with this haul of new potato's. 4 of the spuds were about an inch in diameter, and the other 3 were about pea size! Not wanting to seem ungrateful, i told her we would keep them to use later! They sat in the conservatory all summer, and when they recently started to chit I fell upon the idea of planting them up - maybe they will grow some new spuds in time for Christmas? What the hell, we've got nothing to lose:
I started off with a 3" layer of multi purpose compost in a B&Q bucket, then placed the larger of the 4 tubers onto the surface, before covering with a further layer of mp compost. These have now been well watered. We plan to keep / grow them in the unheated greenhouse, hoping the extra warmth vs. being outside will help with the growth. Maybe we'll feed them with tomorite when they start to grow ? And who knows, we may get treated to a few new spuds for Christmas day. This is; after all, the fun of gardening. The best way to find out if something works is to try it!
We'll keep you posted.


That's all for now folks, but pop back soon for more updates from RR.

TTFN.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My Mum is thinking of growing new potatoes for christmas pretty much in the same way so we will have to compare notes!!

Gary and Jen, and Ruby and Peter said...

Seemed like a good idea to me, with nothing to lose!

Fingers crossed eh !