Planting Potatoes & Onion Sets

Well I can’t complain about the weather on the whole, we’ve had some gorgeous days. Sunshine from morning to night with barely a cloud in the sky. Talking of the sky, we’ve got the house martins coming back. Val heard some twittering in our cowshed as was and saw them trying to build nests up in the roof.

I wouldn’t mind but they get confused and knock themselves silly in the window at the far end from the door and the cat gets them. Mice and rabbits are fine for her to catch, but not birds thank you. So the door curtain is back in place to keep them out.

Heard some seagulls making a huge racket the other day. They seemed to be trying to drive off a buzzard. Buzzing it whilst screaming and swearing in Gullish. The buzzard played it cool and just glided effortlessly across the sky with the gulls to the rear.

I can’t claim it’s dull here, what with the birds fighting for mastery of the sky and the big yellow helicopter chugging over us on his way to Snowdon to rescue people who’ve discovered you don’t stroll up a mountain without some preparation in high heels!

Anyway, got some jobs done outdoors.  My Hotbin composter  was near full so I removed the compost and mulched the blackcurrant bushes with it. The only thing that hadn’t rotted down fully was egg shells but nothing else was recognisable.

It’s getting near to mowing time so the first cut will be used to mulch over the compost around the blackcurrants to save on weeding and hold moisture in. Not that water is usually a problem in Wales.

Planting Potatoes

The raised beds got a weeding and fluffing, before applying some potato fertiliser and planting potatoes. I’d planned on growing Orla but left it a bit late to order so Val hit Wilkinsons and picked up some Foremost and Casablanca first early potatoes. Along with 2 packs of 5 Sarpo Mira (organic) and a 2 kilo sack of Desiree maincrop.

I was a bit saddened to see the planting distances on the packs of first earlies and Sarpo Mira were given the same. Particularly since the Mira grow larger than most maincrops that require more space anyway than earlies. I wonder how many new growers will have followed the pack instructions and wonder why they’ve lots of tiddlers instead of the large potatoes that Sarpo Mira can produce.

I’m planting in raised beds so the earlies and some Mayan Gold from last year’s crop were planted at 23cm (9″) apart in rows 45cm (18″) apart. The Sarpo went in at 2 per row, 30cm from the edge of the bed, 60cm between  tubers and 60cm between rows. The Desiree were in-between at 9″ apart in rows 2′ apart and a bed of Maris Piper went in as per the first earlies.

That took up 4 and a half of my raised beds. The spare half I’ve sowed with carrots, Maestro, a fly resistant Nantes type.

Traditional Onion Growing Method

I was leafing through an old gardening book where it suggested mixing soot and salt 50/50 and applying at 8oz per square yard. My granddad used his chimney sweeping soot on the garden but can’t recall him ever using salt. My father once told me his teeth were in good condition due to using salt and soot as toothpaste as a child.  However, the theory is that onions are originally a shoreline plant and they like the salt whilst the soot darkens and thereby warms the soil.

Well, who knows until they try? I’ve plenty of rock salt which we stocked for winter but didn’t use so mixed that in with the soot and applied to the last raised bed and the shallow bed.

The only major problem is that soot being very light, blows around in the slightest breeze. By the time I’d finished I looked like an extra from Mary Poppins singing Chim chimenee! Raked that into the topsoil and then in with the sets. Stuttgarter in the raised bed and Sturon in the shallow bed.

Planting Plan Raised Beds 
Stuttgarter Onions  Sarpo Mira
 Desiree  1st Earlies – Mayan Gold
 Carrot Maestro | Desiree  Maris Piper
Posted in Allotment Garden Diary

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