Panic Planting ?

[Canary42]

About this time of year I usually descend upon Garden Centres to get seeds/plants for my vegetable garden.

But it seems they're not on the "permitted" list and are closed.

So the excellent "Dig for Victory" initiative which served us so well in the global WW2 crisis appears to have been discarded.

Opportunity missed I feel. Not to mention a barren garden :-(

[Buenchico]

'Home are hardware' stores are exempted from the ban on opening. Nearly all of them sell seeds.

[Maydup]

Maggie, Its not too late for planting potatoes. I 've always planted them on the weekend the clocks change, or later if the ground has been especially cold.

Any basic compost will be fine, they are not especially fussy. Plant them in 4/5 inches of compost, cover them with the same. Once they grow and are 6 inches high, add morecompost to earth them up so that the plants are just visable. Keep watering and earthing up. They will be ready after about 10-12 weeks.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/potato/container-potatoes.htm

[maggiebee]

Thanks for the info Togo. Have taken note of your advice and will try for general crop. Will let you know how it goes.

[maggiebee]

Maydup, thanks for your link too. Will have a read of it and keep for reference.

[Togo]

//Maggie, Its not too late for planting potatoes.//

Correct.......but it may be too late to get hold of "First Early" varieties of seed potatoes. I purchased mine in early February with my onion sets. Otherwise they are all gone.

[Togo]

Just for info. I found that basic compost was somehow just a little too light or if you like lacking in substance and encouraged lots of foliage at the expense of good crops. When I started to mix up a bit of my own compound I found that the results were better, more spuds and better taste. You won't find that sort of recommendation online.........Apart from here. :))

[alavahalf]

Every year I do 12 x 30ltr containers for 1st early spuds.
Will never do them any other way again.. they come out blemish free and perfect !
They were put in last weekend .. 4 weeks too late. The thing is I start them in the polytunnel then lift the tubs outside when the frost has gone. The spuds I brought home at the weekend have been in those pots for a whole year now.. still in perfect condition !
Personally I plant them in 1 year old horse manure with a shovel of sharp sand, half a cup of chicken pellets in each tub.. nothing else involved.
Add 6" of the mix to the tub then add the potatoes submerging them in the soft mix .. cover them with another 3" of the mix. Give them a good drink and leave them until they break through the surface in a couple of weeks.
It is just a matter of completely filling the buckets after that .. therefore protecting the plant from frost.

http://www.upl.co/uploads/IMG20200321113111638HDR1585083796.jpg

[Togo]

Well done Alava. We are a little bit older than you and perhaps a bit short of vim now. Plus we do not have the room to do what you do. We would if we could though and both long for a south facing 12ft common brick walled cottage garden with heated glass house. Alas probably too late for us now. What we do grow is not even economically viable I suppose, as a good life type exercise, but we enjoy it and love those first bites to eat with home grown spuds, broad beans, peas, tomatoes, courgettes, cucumber, strawberries, blackcurrants, beetroot, onions, and more. All small quantities but a pleasure. I see that butterfly numbers are up this year.......thank me. The bleedin things ate my cabbages last year over a weekend when my back was turned.