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Can I still plant Christmas potatoes in
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September for harvesting in Christmas?
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Yes, you can. If you get them in fast,
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you can grow them ready for Christmas.
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Like potatoes usually take about 16
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weeks to grow. So, you've got enough
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time to get them growing and to get them
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harvested. The thing is with Christmas
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potatoes is that I tend to grow them in
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boxes in the poly tunnel as frost can
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kill them. I'm up in north up north and
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we get early frosts uh from October
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onwards. So, and it's a lot colder up
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north. So, I tend to grow mine in the
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poly tunnel in containers. Uh, yes, it
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is expensive filling them up with
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compost, but it's worthwhile for the
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delicious potatoes that we've got
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growing now. I planted mine about 3
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weeks ago and they're just coming to the
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top of the boxes now. They're all
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popping out now. So, hopefully we will
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get a good harvest of potatoes. The best
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places to get your Christmas potatoes
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from are from garden centers or if
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you're on Amazon, search Christmas
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potatoes on Amazon and you will find the
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varieties there. Varieties like Maris
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Piper Charlotte are great varieties to
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grow for Christmas potatoes. So, the
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best way to do it is get some boxes, put
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some holes in the bottom or big tubs,
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put some holes in the bottom of them,
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put a layer of composting, plant your
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potatoes in the tubs, either like three
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or four, depending on how big the tub
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is, and then fill it with compost. You
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can have them outside at this time of
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year while it's still nice and warm. Get
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them growing, get them germinating, keep
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them watered, and then as the cold
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weather comes, when it gets to October
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time, move them inside into your
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greenhouse or your poly tunnel and keep
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them growing in there. Obviously, make
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sure you've got enough water. If your a
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lotment site turns the water off, you'll
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need to make sure you've got some water
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stored in water. I usually store quite a
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bit throughout the winter period. I've
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got it all connected up so that I get
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plenty of water still throughout the
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winter period. keep them watered and get
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them growing. And I usually add some
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plant food into the boxes as well
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because obviously compost doesn't hold
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that much nutrition these days. So I add
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plant food and then when they start to
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get bigger, I'll keep feeding them as
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well to help get some decent sized
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potatoes on them and hopefully a good
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crop ready for Christmas time. And
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there's nothing better than eating fresh
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homegrown potatoes. They're so much
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nicer than the supermarket and they just
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melt in your mouth and are absolutely
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delicious. So, we'll hopefully be
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harvesting ours around middle of
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December. The best time to know that
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they're ready is usually when the plants
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die off. That's when the potatoes are
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usually ready for harvesting. And
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obviously, we're growing them in a
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container. You can just take your
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container outside, tip it out, and grab
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all the potatoes out without the risk of
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stabbing them with a fork, which I tend
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to do if I grow them in the ground. I
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end up stabbing more than I end up
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getting because I just miss where they
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are and I usually cut through a potato.
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But yeah, growing them in a container
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can be useful. And obviously, you can
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use that compost elsewhere afterwards. I
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usually fill my beds up or use them in
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my other beds and make use of the
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compost that I've used because you don't
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want to waste it. So, yes, you can still
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plant Christmas potatoes. Now, hopefully
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you get a good crop from them. Let me
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know in the comments if you're going to
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be growing Christmas potatoes. Make sure
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you give us a like, feel free to share
3:48
it, and give us a follow to stay up to
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date with all our videos. Until next
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time everyone, remember keep smiling,
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keep shining and keep gardening with Ben
