Advice required on storing potatoes which are ready for digging

[Concepta]

We have four raised beds of potatoes which are ready for digging. Does anyone have any advice on how you store these or can we keep them in the ground until needed. We are relatively new to growing our own vegetables and would welcome any advice.

If you tend to get slugs then dont leave in the soil too long, as they will get eaten.

Lift them on a dry day and let them dry out then bag into paper sacks or hessian ones, you can buy them i think. Store in a cool dark place.

Make sure you use any damaged ones first otherwise they may cause others to rot with time.

Enjoy!

Thehariybabysmum thank you we dug the potatoes on Saturday which was a lovely sunny day here and they are drying out in the garage at the moment. I think we got them in time - there was the odd one or two that were a bit eaten by the slugs. We will get them bagged soon. Must order up some hessian bags for next year. Thanks for your advice. It's great having your own potatoes - one less thing to buy for a while at the supermarket - and they taste so much nicer.

They are so satisfying to grow arent they

i have mine wrapped in newspaper in a dry shed. the enemies are the wet, light and too much heat.do not put slightly green ones in the bag with the others.same goes for ones that have fissures or were slightly damaged by the spade on lifting. check the bag every now and then a take out the spuds that have rotted- there may be a few and they will turn the whole lot bad if left in there.

dig them up - leave them spread on the soil for a few hours to dry (not in the rain obviously !), then put in sacks (paper sacks are fine) and store in a cool dark place.

Check in a few weeks - tip out and pick any going rotten - the last thing you want it rotten blighted ones spoiling the rest after all your hard work. You can usually smell if there are any blighted ones when you open the sack.

Thanks everyone for that advice. Didn't think about the ones damaged by the spade. Will remove them too. Cremolafoam - your name - is that from the drink you used to get a number of years ago (or maybe you can still get it). I used to love that. It brings back good memories of my childhood.