When will my potatoes be ready

Me again with all myquestions haha:D

I planted some potatoes in some planter bags in the first week of may, i earthed them up to nearly the top of the bags, each time the shoots came through, as told to and they are now like something out of a jungle. They are King edwards and Maris piper.

My question is this, when will they be ready?? My dad says there ready when the flowers die off, other prople have said when the plants themselves die off....i simply have no clue??? either way there better be some great potatoes on there because theyve taken over my garden there HUGE

 

I would normally say when the flowers have finished and the plants start to die, but mine have been flowering for weeks now, some of them have only just started flowering.

The same happened to my dad's. He got sick of waiting and dug some up and they were ready, yet I dug up the one plant of mine that had flowered and started to die (the rest are still going strong) and got one decent spud and a couple of marbles.

It seems to have been a strange year for potatoes so far. Lots of people have reported poor yields, and then like I said, my dad's are ready before flowering has even finished. So I guess the regular rule of thumb probably has to be pushed to one side for this year

 

Thanks for the advice, i am so impatient were my garden is concerned i cant wait for eveything to be ready

Its my very first year at growing anything really and it has had its disasters, so i didnt want to leave them in there to go bad

Thank you again your superstars

 

They don't usually go bad if you leave them in too long. Unless they get diseased, eaten by slugs, or if the soil is too wet. They just generally get bigger but less tasty. Ok for chips or jackets.

On the other hand, if you harvest too early, and you get a selection of tiny marbles, don't despair. Those tiny spuds that too many people discard considering them too much hassle to prepare, are delicious stir fried (whole, skins on) in a bit of olive oil, garlic puree, tomato puree, and a few herbs of your choice. There might only be enough for a snack, but its a delicious snack

 

I never use maincrop until September, and they will keep longer than that in the soil.
I have this "thing" about digging spuds before they are ready.

Firstly the crop is not as good as it would be if left longer and secondly they dont usually taste very good.

If you want earlies you need to grow early varieties

 

In all fairness i didnt know and probably still dont know what are earlies main and late crops other than the advice ive had from here, im a begginer gardener and i am enjoying learning from others.

I obviously must ask some advice about what to plant next year i consider myself fully repremanded!

 

Hi Toni,

Pete's not reprimanding you, he's like that with all of us bless him

You ask away, you'll get several different answers usually.

If you want new potatoes for xmas then plant Charlotte(think they are second earlies) in august But beware of the blight.