What to plant now?

positron

We tried growing potatoes for the first time year, grabbed some seed potatoes from Aldi, planted them on a garden sack type thing around April and kept topping up the soil.

It soon turned into a mini forest over the bag and started flowering



Flowers long gone and the leaf was turning kinda yellow, and kids couldn't wait any longer, so we tipped over the bag and kids delirious collecting potatoes:



That's a 10 liter pot, about 6 kilos of potatoes big and small. Delighted with it, and next is to figure out what to do with these.

Question though - what do I do with the soil now. I could add them to our raised bed where tomatoes are growing, but at the same time I am wondering if there's anything that can be planted in the same bag that will grow over winter or for early Spring - vegetables or flowers. Any thoughts?

my3cents

I can't think of anything that will be as spectacular for the kids as the potatoes (King Edwards?) and tbh its a little early yet to be planting overwintering crops. The usual are Autumn Onions and Shallots some of the Japanese varieties are really good buy sets, Garlic, Spring onions (seed), Perpetual Spinach as a cut and come again crop and Broad Beans only one well know variety and well worth it IF you like them Aquadulce Claudia. Unfortunately you are too late for Winter Cabbage, Kale Sprouting Broccoli and Brussels Sprouts.

Now don't forget to see if you can save a few of your potatoes as seed for next year.

Harry Palmr

Be careful about reusing potato soil or compost - was there any sign of blight or pests in/on the spuds? If so it's best to reuse the media only as a way to top up flower beds rather than grow vegetables in.

if you think the crop was clean and healthy then you'll still need to top up the nutrient mix as spuds take all the goodness out over a season.

my3cents

Unless you were thinking of planting potatoes of tomatoes in that compost then with a bit of fertilizer its still usable for the plants I've listed above.

One other springs to mind and thats Asian (Japanese) Radishes and other Winter Radishes. You may get away with planting them now. Don't expect anything like the salad radishes we normally eat. The over wintering ones are much bigger often quite long.

You could still get a crop of (ordinary) Spring Radish now as well as Spring Onions.

Edit> Mooli was what I was thinking of but couldn't remember the name https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/mooli-radish-neptune-f1-hybrid/4789TM probably too late to plant this year.

Also look at https://www.quickcrop.ie/learning/plant/radish2 I think Mooli is a variety of Diakon?

RiderOnTheStorm

Too late this year, unless you have a greenhouse and seedlings, but next spring I can highly recommend peas and strawberries. There is great joy in watching your kids eating them straight from the garden. Peas are brill because they grow easily from seed, so kids are involved from the very beginning and the plant climbs!
Strawberries? A plant that grows "sweets"? Whats not to like ...

magicbastarder

we picked up - as an experiment - 'autumn potatoes' to plant now and harvest near christmas. will believe it when i see it, but we've a small bed we just emptied so it's worth it for the laugh.

monty_python

magicbastarder wrote: »

we picked up - as an experiment - 'autumn potatoes' to plant now and harvest near christmas. will believe it when i see it, but we've a small bed we just emptied so it's worth it for the laugh.

I've done the same. I got red Duke of York . First time growing potatoes too. Hopefully they work. I'm growing them more to suppress the weeds as my small allotment is totally over run with weeds including bind weed

bizidea

Hi just wondering where ye picked up the autumn potatoes wouldn't mind giving them a go myself

monty_python

bizidea wrote: »

Hi just wondering where ye picked up the autumn potatoes wouldn't mind giving them a go myself

Got mine on Amazon

my3cents

monty_python wrote: »

Got mine on Amazon

LOL an illegal import then

Your not supposed to import seed potatoes into the country afaik.

I'm sure you filled out all the relevant documentation https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/farmingsectors/crops/potatoes/seedpotatoes/NotificationImportationSeedPotatoes240412.pdf .

magicbastarder

bizidea wrote: »

Hi just wondering where ye picked up the autumn potatoes wouldn't mind giving them a go myself

jones's garden centre out near donabate. says to plant july to sept, obviously the earlier the better. they were a little wan looking, but only €3.

monty_python

my3cents wrote: »

LOL an illegal import then

Your not supposed to import seed potatoes into the country afaik.

I'm sure you filled out all the relevant documentation https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/farmingsectors/crops/potatoes/seedpotatoes/NotificationImportationSeedPotatoes240412.pdf .

Didn't know that,. I'll keep it in mind in the future

my3cents

monty_python wrote: »

Didn't know that,. I'll keep it in mind in the future

I wouldn't worry about it, if Amazon are posting them out then I can't imagine that anyone is too serious, because Amazon are always the first when it comes to reasons not to post to Ireland.

monty_python

my3cents wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about it, if Amazon are posting them out then I can't imagine that anyone is too serious, because Amazon are always the first when it comes to reasons not to post to Ireland.

Just an FYI. I had a look at the packaging and they came with an EC plant passport number. I won't be going to jail anytime soon

positron

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

Too late this year, unless you have a greenhouse and seedlings, but next spring I can highly recommend peas and strawberries. There is great joy in watching your kids eating them straight from the garden. Peas are brill because they grow easily from seed, so kids are involved from the very beginning and the plant climbs!
Strawberries? A plant that grows "sweets"? Whats not to like ...

Thanks for the suggestions.

We actually had peas and tomatoes on our tiny raised bed (about 2 meters long, half meter wide). Kids got involved in sowing pea and tomato seeds, we planted them out hoping to grow a row of peas and a row of tomatoes behind the peas. I was hoping to layer them, peas at the bottom, tomatoes along the wall. The peas seed packed said they don't need support and will only grow 40 cm tall etc, but they actually grew slightly taller and needed support as well. They also kinda held back the tomatoes for a while with their shade. Eventually tomatoes broke thru and went up on the wall (cherry tomatoes / sungold F1 etc, stringed up), and the peas were brilliant too - kids had a ball picking and eating sweet peas whenever they fancy for at least six weeks. Then we went away on holidays and came back to see peas covered in white powdery stuff and looking all sad and yellow - so I ended up pulling them all out and threw them in brown bin. Kids now loving snacking on sweet (especially sungold f1) tomatoes as soon as they ripe - It's a great feeling to see kids getting involved and getting enjoyment out of it - I wish I had more room to grow stuff for them.

I will definitly give strawberries a go next year. And tomatoes again I think. In the meantime I might look into leafy things like rocket leaves perhaps, and some of the great suggestions above like onions and radishes.

gozunda

positron wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions.

We actually had peas and tomatoes on our tiny raised bed (about 2 meters long, half meter wide). Kids got involved in sowing pea and tomato seeds, we planted them out hoping to grow a row of peas and a row of tomatoes behind the peas. I was hoping to layer them, peas at the bottom, tomatoes along the wall. The peas seed packed said they don't need support and will only grow 40 cm tall etc, but they actually grew slightly taller and needed support as well. They also kinda held back the tomatoes for a while with their shade. Eventually tomatoes broke thru and went up on the wall (cherry tomatoes / sungold F1 etc, stringed up), and the peas were brilliant too - kids had a ball picking and eating sweet peas whenever they fancy for at least six weeks. Then we went away on holidays and came back to see peas covered in white powdery stuff and looking all sad and yellow - so I ended up pulling them all out and threw them in brown bin. Kids now loving snacking on sweet (especially sungold f1) tomatoes as soon as they ripe - It's a great feeling to see kids getting involved and getting enjoyment out of it - I wish I had more room to grow stuff for them.
I will definitly give strawberries a go next year. And tomatoes again I think. In the meantime I might look into leafy things like rocket leaves perhaps, and some of the great suggestions above like onions and radishes.

They're are a couple of extended harvest Cabbage varieties such as Unwins 'Winter Special' - that you can plant up to the end of this month. The other veg which comes to mind is the Salad Onion - White Lisbon - Winter Hardy (Sutton - I think) for sowing in September for use in the following spring. Lambs lettuce is a also good winter growing salad leaf that can be sown now for next year
.

Graces7

I am sowing Hungry Gap Kale and Land Cress for winter greens.. In containers . Found the seeds on seedaholic Ancient Crops list

https://www.seedaholic.com/edibles/ancient-crops.html