Planting early spuds!

Well the rain eventually stopped (after giving us one allnighter) last Wednesday around lunchtime. We have had a few frosty nights this week but nothing too severe, also we have had some heat and more importantly, plenty of drying. So today I decided to take some time off from hedge-cutting and plant some potatoes. I usually plant about 100 seed potatoes (small potatoes kept from last years crop to replant or bought from merchant are called seed potatoes) around the last week of February or when ground conditions allow. This is very early for our part, but my soil is quite sandy and with this small amount I can cover the young shoots if there is a risk of frost. We usually have potatoes for the last week of June and this plot keeps us going until the second earlies are ready.
Pic 1..Using my 80 inch Rotavator I rotavated this strip that had turnips in last year. The ground is too wet for a second run, also the wheels of the MF590 would compact it. I then reversed up with my little MF135 and Fergie drill plough and made one run to raise 2 drills and 3 hollows. The potatoes were set by hand at 10 inch spacings.
Pic 2..You can see the young buds on the potatoes. These have been spread out in a frost proof and bright house to bring on the budding.
Pic 3..The potatoes were then covered with rotted farm yard manure. One wheel barrow per drill (about 25 feet)
Pic4..The secret with this early planting over here in Northern Ireland is to keep the tractor off the soil as much as possible to reduce compaction. So I split the drills with the shovel to cover the spuds. This is easier than it looks as the soil is well broken up.
Pic5..I have 3 nice drills with 97 potatoes planted, note I kept the hollow left by the rotavator cleaned out to let any heavy rain drain away from the plants. Hopefully I am not too early.
Sam

Hi Sam - good looking job! It's interesting to see you plant the whole potato. We always cut ours into chunks, aiming for at least one, and mebbe two eyes (buds) per chunk. I have a friend who always plants the whole potato also, and I had some cut pieces left over, so I gave them to him. He finished out a row with them as an experiment, and proclaimed them to produce as good as the whole potato. If you have lots of potatos though, why not plant the whole thing? As an extreme, my wife's grandmother, who lived thru the GREAT depression, would peel the potato, leaving the skins thick, and plant the peelings. The family ate the rest. She grew nice potatos also. St. Patrick's day is the tater planting day in our neighborhood.

I always like your pics Sam.

Well, looks like you are off to a good start! I like the looks of your soil. My garden has three different types of soil all on about half an acre. I have some good gray soil which graduates into red, and one corner is full of rocks. Grows good veggies, if you can put up with the rocks while cultivating. I have heard of people planting the whole potato, but we always cut ours into pieces. Perhaps to make the seed go farther, but always had a good crop. I hope the weather cooperates with you.

I too, cut my seed poatoes so that I have two ot three eyes per piece. I have actually broken off the sprouts and planted them with good results. Do you think the whole potato holds up better in cold wet conditions?

Samn40,

Nice photos.

Like others, I always cut seed spuds in chunks. After planting I fill my furrow with peat moss over the potatoes - it makes for easier harvesting as our soil is very dark and heavy. Then a little black dirt on top. If no peat added - and we get any rain near harvest time, it gets sticky and the spuds will be like dirtballs when you dig them up.

I do the peat over onions sets and radishes seeds too. I have also worked some sand and compost into my garden over the years to mellow the soil.

My Daddy taught me 70 years ago to plant Irish potatos on St. Patty"s Day!!

I tried planting some early spuds last night too. Not much luck as the hollows were tough dig in frozen ground. And the wind kept drifting the snow over the hills and filling in the hollows full before I could plant the potatoes.

I have cut potatoes before, but we prefer to keep small potatoes as seed. Some breeds of spuds take small potato disease when cut too close to planting time...maybe our ground is too cold and wet!. These spuds are 'British Queen' variety and one of the best tasting earlies but they don't have many eyes so it is not good to cut them.
Long buds we do break off, we like a short strong bud if possible with even some leaves forming. Another thing, Sweetfeet. We like our potatoes to get a real steeping with rain before digging so we can bring them in dirty...We always think they keep better and come out of the barn fresh and as close as possible to the way they were dug. Older housewives here won't buy clean spuds!
Sam