Sunday 2 March 2014

Spuds

I've always been unsure about whether growing potatoes is actually worth it. To my mind, growing the common varieties doesn't really make much sense as they are cheap and easily available in the shops for next to nothing. Why risk the dreaded blight when it's far easier to buy?

But then there is the sense of growing your own. Being able to do it and eat your own goodies. Yes I can certainly see the benefits of growing heritage varieties but general purpose spuds? Well hopefully I am going to eat my own words because I am going to attempt to grow spuds.
Chitting spuds. Charlotte, rear. Maris Piper, fore.

Now supposedly it's not difficult. Simply throw them in the ground and forget about them is the common method. But my ground is infested with couch grass and floods. But a while back I was after some light fittings in B&Q and had a quick hunt through their bargain section. They had some standalone grow bags as damaged goods. £1.50 for three slightly different sized bags. Some had water damage (rust marks) others were packet damaged in some way. One only had two bags in. But £6 for 11 large sized containers didn't seem too bad to my mind. Especially as they are re-usable.

They are ideally suited to grow spuds in there. Easy to harvest too... just tip 'em out. So that's what's going to go in these bags. Spuds. And maybe some purple carrots too.

Compared to yesterday, today is a blustery overcast day. Pretty windy and not nice outside. So I spent most of my time nice and warm in the greenhouse sorting out the seeds from last year and getting things laid out ready to start them off in trays. Some I've put aside for starting later in the month, but in the meantime there is a lot to sort out. I also need to get my delayed orders in at Real Seeds and Suttons. Maybe the plot itself will dry out enough for me to dig it over by the time the seeds arrive.

In the meantime, kettle's boiled for coffee and the breakfast eggs are nearly done.

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