If you are trying to figure out when is the best time to plant potatoes in the UK, the best time to do so is in February and August. If you aim for a late spring harvest, you’ll need to do your potato planting in February. However, if you’re looking to reap harvest during late autumn or early winter, you must plant your potatoes in August.
What Is The Best Month To Plant Potatoes?
When you plant your potatoes in February, you get full advantage of the UK’s rainy season – which means that you won’t have to water your plants that much. Besides that, one requires less watering. Planting your potatoes in February won’t require monitoring your plants closely.
What Can I Plant Now In the UK?
Suppose you’re itching to plant something right now in the UK. In that case, you might want to start with summer vegetables that include pole beans, bush beans, kohlrabi, carrot, cucumber, sweet corn, melons, leaf lettuce, spinach, long-day onion, melons, mesclun, Swiss chard, turnip, pumpkin, parsnip, radish, and squash.
What Can I Plant In April In the UK?
During April, try sowing seeds of pole and bush beans. You may also try beets, sweet corn, carrots, lettuce, pumpkins, spinach, squash, radishes, onions, kohlrabi, cucumbers, melons, and Swiss chard.
How Do You Grow Potatoes In Cornwall?
Although one can use true seeds to grow potatoes in Cornwall, they can also grow from the tuber pieces. Aside from requiring consistently cool yet frost-free weather, they also need about 3 to four months to develop fully. If you’re not aware, breeders managed to establish various seed varieties that can provide their growers with excellent benefits that include ease of storage and protection from diseases that one generation can usually transmit from one generation to the next.
Here are some of the tips you need to apply when planting potatoes in Devonshire.
Use a loose, acidic, and well-drained soil
To ensure that your potatoes grow healthy, you need to make sure that one plants them into loose, acidic, and well-drained soil. Furthermore, they tend to grow best between pH 5.0 and pH 6.8. Keep in mind that potatoes become more susceptible to scab disease when their pH level is 6.5 or higher.
Mix fertiliser before you plant the potatoes
Before anything else, you’ll need to mix in your organic or chemical fertiliser before you scatter it evenly over the soil’s surface. Next, make sure that you incorporate the fertiliser 8 inches deep.
Organic fertilisers need to be mixed into the soil for about 2 to 4 weeks before planting the potatoes. Moreover, to leach the excess salts found below the surface, you’ll need to rinse the soil every week.
When you’re using manure, it’s best to use a commercially composted product instead of fresh manure because the latter contains bacteria that can cause harm to your potatoes. However, if you’re using organic fertiliser, apply it based on the label’s directions.
Cut whole seed potatoes into pieces
Compared to using tuber pieces, it’s better to plant certified seed pieces because these are free from diseases. If you decide to purchase whole seed potatoes, you need to cut them into 1.5 to 2 ounces. Before planting these cut pieces, they need to be placed at room temperature for about 1 to 3 days to dry out the cut surfaces.
Dust the callused pieces with a fungicide
As soon as the surfaces are dried, a callus responsible for decreasing rotting will form. You may choose to dust these pieces with the use of a fungicide. To do this, you’ll place about a dozen of these pieces in a bag and add a teaspoon of soil sulfur or any fungicide.
Plant the dry and callused pieces
Within five days after cutting, you’ll need to plant them.
Avoid planting potatoes too close to each other
When it comes to planting, you need to ensure that you provide your potatoes with enough space. Placing them too close together will only lead to soil compaction when the tubers are already trying to spread out.
Remember to prepare the soil in rows that are approximately 2 to 3 feet and where you can hill up the soil as your precious potatoes are growing. While you’re at it, make sure that you plant your potatoes in areas where they can freely soak in the rays of the sun.
The Key Benefits of Growing Your Plants in a Polytunnel
Seasoned gardeners and horticulturists can attest to the beautiful benefits that polytunnels can offer, including the ability to control temperature and humidity, as well as more excellent protection from extreme weather conditions, pests, and animals. In other words, you can never go wrong with polytunnel gardening. Let’s dive in to get a closer look at the benefits of polytunnel gardening:
It allows you to control the temperature and humidity
The ability to influence is one of the best reasons you should set up your polytunnel. When you can control the temperature and humidity inside the enclosure, you can cultivate the most demanding plants. Control also means that you’ll be able to establish the optimal climatic conditions suitable for your plants’ stages of growth.
It improves the overall quality of your plants
Plants grown in polytunnels aren’t under much stress compared to those grown outdoors. Since polytunnel gardening provides them with the most suitable environment for growth, the plants can flourish.
It protects from harsh weather conditions
When you set up your polytunnel, you won’t have to worry about exposing your plants to heavy rain, hail, snow, and strong winds. The structure provides your plants with the protection they need from extreme weather conditions.
It protects your plants from harmful bugs and animals
Unlike traditional outdoor gardening, where plants easily autumn prey to diseases, pests, and weeds, polytunnel gardening allows you to steer clear of these issues. One can shield the plants that grow under the cover of polytunnel from harmful insects and animals that can stunt their growth or damage them ultimately.
When To Plant Potatoes In the UK Polytunnels
Knowing when is the best time to plant potatoes in the UK is crucial to producing the harvest you’re looking to reap. However, taking your gardening experience to the next level may mean growing your potatoes in a polytunnel. If you’re planning to embark on a polytunnel gardening journey, check out Krostrade’s top-quality, strong, and durable polytunnels today!