magick777's Potato 'Shetland Black' x 7 Harvesting
Plant: Potato (Solanum tuberosum) | Variety: Shetland Black
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An unexpected freebie; I stopped by the Community Hut on the allotment today and there was a bag of Shetland Black seed potatoes, with a note from the donor to the effect that his supplier had shipped him an extra bag in error.
To his credit, he also added a brief review of the potatoes in question, adding that they were excellent for baking or roasting in their jackets, but not so great for peeling and boiling, that they are not especially large potatoes, and that his intention was that those who may like to try them should take what they need ‘but on no account be greedy’. Half the bag had been claimed by the time I got to it and there were 21 tubers remaining, so I judged it reasonable to take 7 of them to plant a single 10’ row.
Reading up on them, I find that they’re a second early and can be planted in March or April, so I’ve got on and taken out a trench for them at the back of the plot in a bed that I had already earmarked for potatoes, and they’re in the ground under about 4-6" of soil. I’ll think about adding some sort of frost protection and/or mulch since they’ve gone in early, but it shouldn’t be needed this week.
Photos
Collections
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Allotment garden [Archived]
Planting Data
magick777's Potato 'Shetland Black' Care Instructions
Early Blight are common problems for Potato so keep a note of any developing symptoms.
More information about Potato 'Shetland Black' is available in the Folia gardener's wiki. All Potato 'Shetland Black' Care Instructions have been kindly provided by our members.
Harvest Tally
Milestones
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06 Sep 2012
Harvesting day 185
Shetland Black out
1.0 x bag 4.0 kg
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19 May 2012
Mulching day 75 What went right...
Earthed up twice so far
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28 Mar 2012
Mulching day 23
Covered with the remains of last year’s compost
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05 Mar 2012
Sown day 0
Comments
Amarylis wrote:
I see I’m not the only one to get his spuds in early this year! I got a row & 3/4 in on 3rd March & on March 10th I finished the row & planted a third! I have some hoops over the bed & I intend to get some fleece to cover them once they break surface. The last 2 years we have had a late frost in the first week of May which caught many of the guys on our allotment field off guard! We got away with it both years as the 1st year Gerry, my friend from church who shares his 1 & 1/2 allotments with me, before I got my own 1/2 plot last September, earthed up his spuds the day before the unexpected frost struck thereby saving his plants! Last year our potatoes had hardly broken the ground when we had 2 late frost at the start of May. So again we were lucky! This year I’m taking no chances with the early ‘Rocket’ seed potatoes I put in on my new plot!
Posted on 15 Mar 12 (about 1 year ago)
magick777 wrote:
Yeah, I figure it’s worth it at least for first & second earlies; the maincrop ones will go in round Easter. I haven’t decided what to do about frost protection, I’ve a couple of hoops and some fleece but I suspect I’ll have found a use for those by May. Most likely, I’ll rely on a heavy mulching with left over compost.
The reason I’ve put these in early, though, is that it’s a heirloom variety with no blight resistance. We reliably get late blight on our site at end of July or start of August and so I usually grow strongly resistant varieties such as Sarpo Mira. My aim is that these will get their 120 days to mature and be lifted in early July; as they were collected in the Shetland isles I am less worried about their cold weather performance and more worried about disease resistance… if I’d put them in a month later they’d be pretty much a guaranteed fail…
Posted on 15 Mar 12 (about 1 year ago)
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