Talk to me about potatoes please.

[Beauregard]

Have put some in a large pot ,has sprouted long green leaves ,how will i know when to pick?

[merlotmama]

I wait until the flowers are out before I dig some up for a look.

[katwith3kittens]

They should be left to grow for about 12 weeks

[Furball]

have a shuft Here

[elsieanjoanne]

my grandad sweas by growing your own! we have grown them before an you generally wait for little white or yellow flowers to appear an they nearly ready! good luck

[Finbar]

Definitely when the first flowers appear. Keep htem well watered though - that's been my downfall in previous years.. The ones you dig up just after the flowers appear will be like new potaotes - you can leave the others a bit longer to mature.
What variety are they?

[Beauregard]

Oh thanks ,will wait for flowers then.
Err not sure of the variety ,can't remember.

[NappiesGalore]

oh goody! my first planted pot has flowers!

[NappiesGalore]

nope. they are not ready.

[merlotmama]

Eek, no! Sorry, I didn't mean to mislead you. That was careless of me. The flowers need to be out for a while. Once the shaws start collapsing and looking yellow I get them all up.

Flowers already...mind you, my strawberries are looking great and much further on than usual. Maybe global warming will mean we will get to enjoy our strawbs this year instead of missing them by being away on our summer hols.

[NappiesGalore]

ah!
everything is in the (currently unused due to building work in house) conservatory... and its like the caribbean in there. have had vast numbers of strawbs already. and pots coming on a storm. loads of toms too, tho they are all still green.

anyway, the pot i checked is one of those potato barrel things so i can slide up the side, dig about a bit and slide it down again... so no damage caused by me rooting aboout for potatoes. hurrah.
thanks for tip, will look for flowers dying away...

[bobs]

I grew mine for the first time last year in big dog food bags and they were great so am now growing more. I've got 2nd earlies and maincrop on the go and earthed them up (hope you've done that =more spuds) about a month ago. I think you have to wait for the foliage to start dying back (ie starts looking tired) and then stick your hand down and see what you can find!! It's great fun but you also have to remember that some spuds (main I think??) but others only grow so big before being ready

[NappiesGalore]

yes, i did potting up! very proud of my expertise, i am . have the barrel i posted about plus two sacks, each potted up and staggered in planting times... need to stick some more in now actually...