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Let's get ready for planting our
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potatoes on Good Friday. Welcome to
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Gardening with Ben, everyone. And today
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we're going to talk about getting ready
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for planting our potatoes on Good
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Friday. And you might say, why Good
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Friday? It's an old gardener's tale that
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you should plant them on Good Friday as
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it's to do with the moon. So yeah, if
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you're superstitious or follow the moon
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like me, I always do follow it and I
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always plant them on Good Friday, even
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if it's early. I've always planted it
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like sometimes Good Friday's in March
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and yeah, we've always planted them on
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Good Friday. Now, how do you get ready
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for planting your potatoes? I'm going to
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be growing mine in tubs this year
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because I've done it for the last few
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years and I prefer it to be honest
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rather than planting them in the soil.
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If you plant them in the soil, they're
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susceptible for to wire worm and slugs.
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And also, when you're digging them up,
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you end up stabbing them and then you
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ruin them, which I always do. And I end
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up ruining all the good ones and all the
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bad ones are the ones that I miss. And
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yeah, I always struggle with that. So, I
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grow them in tubs and then when they're
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ready to harvest, you can just tip them
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out and collect all the potatoes and not
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risk about stabbing any. Obviously, you
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need to keep them watered better because
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sometimes uh they dry out a lot faster,
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but if you're down here regular, that's
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perfectly fine. So, let's show you the
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containers that we're going to be
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growing them in. So, these are the
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containers that we're going to be
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growing them in, which we got from
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Oakland Gardens Limited. And we've got
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10 of these. So, we'll probably plant
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about three in each one. I think three
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is enough. These are 30 liter. And as
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you can see, they've got holes in the
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bottom so that they're perfect for
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drainage, and they won't get um flooded
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with water if it rains really bad. But
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yeah, they'll be absolutely perfect. So,
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we're going to grow them in them. We're
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going to keep them inside for the first
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month or so, and then we'll take them
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outside when it gets a bit warmer, and
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that'll give them a speedier start down
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in the plot. And what we tend to do is
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that we put the compost in the bottom,
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and obviously put soil in them. And then
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we put some food in. And what sort of
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food it is, you may ask. Well, it's
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called actually called potato
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fertilizer. And this is the potato
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fertilizer that I will put in the
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bottom. It'll obviously feed them
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because potatoes will take a lot of the
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nutrition from the compost. So, you need
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to add that little bit extra. So, we'll
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pop some around the potatoes and then
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we'll put some on top every couple of
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weeks once they're getting growing so
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that they'll keep feeding them and
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hopefully get some massive potatoes
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And as for the potatoes, if you've not
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got them yet, go to the garden centers.
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Most have got them in at the moment. And
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yeah, start chitting them. And chitting
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them means that it starts some
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sprouting. As you can see, they've got
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little sprouts coming on their eyes and
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they like blackening off like that. But
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that's perfectly fine. You don't want
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them really weed uh weedy and big shoots
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on them. You just want these little
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shoots on them like that. And the reason
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why we chit them is because it gets them
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ready for harvesting that couple of
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weeks extra. And yeah, you don't need to
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chit them if you don't want to chit
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them, but that's one thing that I've
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always done and I've always stuck with
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doing them. So yeah, we'll keep them in
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there till Good Friday. They need to be
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in a light airy space and damp free and
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hopefully you'll get some great
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So, make sure you drop us a follow to
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stay up to date with the potatoes and we
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will be planting these on Good Friday.
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Like I said, feel free to join along and
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plant yours on Good Friday and we'll see
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how we all get on with them all. So
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until next time everyone remember keep
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smiling, keep shining and keep gardening
