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Let's get ready to plant our potatoes on
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Good Friday next week. Everybody,
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welcome to Gardening with Ben and we're
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going to get ready for planting our
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potatoes next week on Good Friday. So,
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how do we get ready and what is it? What
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you will need for growing your potatoes
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this year? Well, we're going to be
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growing ours in tubs as I do prefer to
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grow them in tubs. I've grown them in
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the ground in the past, but my issue is
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that I usually when I dig them up, I
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usually end up stabbing them or Yeah.
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wire worm get them and there's holes in
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them and I've grown them in tubs for the
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last few years and they're perfect and
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when they're ready you can just tip that
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tub out and get the potatoes out nice
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and easy without having to dig them up
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and you can use that compost on your
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beds as well as usually it's good still
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to plant with. So we're going to be
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growing ours in buckets. We've got these
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from Oakland and as you can see they've
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got plenty of drainage in the bottom.
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These are from Oakland Gardens Limited
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and these are absolutely amazing. We've
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got 10 of these. So, we're going to be
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planting probably about three in each
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one as they're quite big and they will
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get some great potatoes in them. You can
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either start them off indoors in your
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poly tunnel and then move them out when
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it gets a bit warmer or you can just put
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them straight outside. But make sure if
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there's any green shoots coming over
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them, get them covered back over with
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compost because there's still frost
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around and yeah, they can the frost can
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kill the shoots which you don't want.
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They're not winter hardy protected so
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you don't want them getting destroyed by
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frost. I saw of quite a few years ago
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loads of people have planted them and we
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had a late frost and it destroyed a lot
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of people's potatoes. So make sure you
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be careful of them. We'll also be using
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potato fertilizer in them because
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obviously they take a lot of nutrients
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from the compost. So you need to have
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some added nutrients in them. So let's
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show you the potato fertilizer we are
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using. This is the potato fertilizer
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that we shall be using. Now what we'll
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do is we'll put the potatoes on a layer
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of compost. Sprinkle some of that around
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the potatoes and then cover them over
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with compost. And then when they get
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growing and get going, we'll put some
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more on top and keep them fed until
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they're ready for growing just to give
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them that little extra boost and
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hopefully produce bigger and better
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crops because that's what you want. Lots
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and lots of potatoes. Now, potatoes are
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my favorite thing. I love them in the
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air fryer. They're absolutely gorgeous.
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And yeah, we have so many potatoes every
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single year. And I even grow Christmas
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potatoes cuz I love potatoes that much.
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So, we'll be growing Christmas potatoes
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again this year in the poly tunnel. So,
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let's show you the potatoes that we've
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So, these are the potatoes that we've
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got from Jameson Brothers. Absolutely
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amazing potatoes. And as you can see,
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they are chitten. You don't want them
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where they're long and spangly as that's
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not what you want. You're just wanting
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the small little chits on top like they
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look blackened, but that's how they are.
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That's perfect. And obviously when you
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plant them, plant them so that the
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shoots are facing up to help with the
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growth. We've had these in here about
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two months now. So yeah, absolutely
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loads of potatoes growing. So these are
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going to be absolutely perfect for in
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So like I said, we're going to be
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planting these on Good Friday next week.
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And I can't wait to get these growing.
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Absolutely amazing. And we'll have these
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outside because I can't get to the plot
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every week. So, we need the rain more to
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keep them watered and keep them growing
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and hopefully keep them shooting. If I
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notice any green shoots popping through
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the top of the compost, I'll put extra
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layer of compost on top to protect them
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from the frost because we don't want the
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frost killing them off and destroying
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them. And yeah, they'll be ready around
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June, July time. We've got earies, main
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crop, and second earies as well. And the
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meaning of that is because they're all
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ready at different times. They all take
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different times to grow. So obviously
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your earies are first and then your
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second earies and then your main crop
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are later. They take longer to grow. And
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the usual way that I find out that
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they're ready to harvest is because the
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plant dies off. Once the plant dies off,
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that is usually when they're ready for
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harvesting. Uh so that you don't have to
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feel around to see if they're big enough
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or ready enough. I just let the plant
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die off and that is when I harvest them.
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So yeah, make sure you stay tuned for
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next week for when we plant them and
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sharing with you all what we get up to.
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So until next time everyone remember
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keep smiling, keep shining and keep
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gardening with Ben everyone.
