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[Alec]

A neighbouring farmer has just sown his maincrop potatoes (a seasonal reminder to anyone else who may want to grow some of their own). I have been watching the way he does it, which is quite interesting.

Firstly he cultivated the ground (having probably rotavated in some manure from the local goats or other livestock), and then formed the ridges about 75cm apart. Then he placed the perforated irrigation pipe along the top of each ridge, connecting each loop to a feed pipe running at right angles, half-way down the field. Finally the black plastic sheeting went on top, weighed down all round by chopping a slit into the earth.

Sowing the seed potatoes was the very last step in the process – I would have thought it would have come earlier. Holes were punched through the plastic and each potato was pushed into place by hand – a very time-consuming operation, which took more than a day for four workers. So that the potatoes would fit through the holes, they were cut down into halves or even quarters, making sure that each piece had an “eye” or two. They did not “chit” the potatoes (allow the shoots to start growing), but then neither do British farmers, that’s something that only we gardeners tend to do in order to maximise the yield.

Incidentally, he commented that the seed potatoes often come from France, but this year - presumably because of the cold, wet summer - they had to be rejected because they were starting to rot.

He gave me a supply of the chopped-down potatoes and some of the plastic, so I am going to give it a try and see how my results compare with his! In return I gave his some seeds of “Gardener’s Delight” tomatoes which I had saved myself, explaining that this was the sweetest, best and most popular small tomato in Britain. I will be interested to see what he thinks of it, and whether it flourishes in the Spanish climate.

Alec

[Campo Girl]

Hola Alec

I think I have a potato plant growing, I followed your instructions from previous potato discussions.

Unfortunately I think I only have 1 All the heavy rain we had drowned most of what I had planted, not much I could have done because my garden is on a hill so naturally water runs down.

I will take some pics this weekend and upload them, I am not really sure it is a potato plant!

We are having some lovely weather this week so the garden is looking lovely in the winter sunshine

Simone

[delacuesta]

Hello all We live on the Granada coast and just throw our old potato peel, potatoes with or without chits in- something always happens, and just dig down about 3 months later. carrots however are another matter!Radishes also very difficult here for some reason!But peas and beans up already  -wont be edible till spring though

[CampoGirl Gina]

Hi Delacuesta,

Welcome to the Forum!

I would never of thought to just chuck potato peelings in the ground, but great that you always get results. I planted some potatoes about 2 months ago and they are now about 2 ft tall!! Cannot wait to see how they turn out. I also planted carrots, but they are taking there time. Will keep you posted to whether or not i get any!!

CG Gina

[jonas]

Hi Alec!

Maybe you can help me, I will move to Spain soon and i was wondering if you know anything about the water restrictions? I would like to grow as much as vegetables and fruits as i can but if i cant water them it will be a problem..do you know anything about this?

Thanks!

Jonas

[Campo Girl]

Hola Jonas

Move to Monda! The village of Monda does not get charged for any water consumption, this is because the village belonged to Franco, when he was in power. There are no meters on our water pipes, they just come into the land and you turn on the tap.

What area of Spain are you looking at Jonas? Different areas have different regulations regarding water supplies, if you are surrounded by mountains then many villages (including the campo) will use water supplied from the mountains, in Monda there is water everywhere, it pours out of the fountains they have in the middle of the town, fresh, clean water, the Spanish fill up their water bottles from these fountains.

If you can give us an area then we can find out information or point you in the right direction

Simone

[jonas]

Hola Simone, Thats perfect information for me:) I was a bit worried about this water issue..i would love to find a big piece of land that has a small house that i can fix up on it.I Looked at Monda on the net and its only 15 minutes to the beach.
So i guess i have to drive around and look when i get there, so i get a water pipe i can use :)And i nice pool would be nice to build if there is none.

Jonas

[Campo Girl]

Hola Alec

I failed with the potatoes - boo hoo

I planted as you said and then we had bad rain and it washed most of my soil away and killed the potatoes, I was gutted, how did you get on?

Oh well we have some success with other plants/fruits, just nothing staple right now

Hope you are well, not seen you for a while

Be in touch soon

Simone

[Campo Girl]

Hello all We live on the Granada coast and just throw our old potato peel, potatoes with or without chits in- something always happens, and just dig down about 3 months later. carrots however are another matter!Radishes also very difficult here for some reason!But peas and beans up already  -wont be edible till spring though

Hola Delacuesta

Welcome to the forum and I think you are the first member from Granada, great to meet you. I get the land differs up there to Malaga?

We were discussing some kind of compost heap this weekend, we need to make a big area and start producing good compost, seems daft not to when we have the space for it.

Have you not had any joy with carrots? I have shoots right now and I re-planted over the weekend to their new home

I have not tried radishes yet, think I will though as my husband likes radishes

Take care and speak soon

Simone

[CampoGirl Gina]

How excited was I yesterday when I was weeding around my potato patch to find I have lots of little spuds growing!! I wasnt really sure they would grow at all, but one of them had come to the surface, so I had to pick it out the ground to see it! Not sure if it is edible as its still a bit green and really hard. But it cant be bad for my first attempt! We are looking forward to the rest of them to finish growing, then lots of yummy spuds on the menu!!

[Campo Girl]

Oh my god, I am soooo jealous, I failed miserbaly on the potato front and seeing yours reminded me how badly I failed LOL

I guess I will just have to eat yours instead hehehe

On a good note it appears I can grow carrots so I can at least contribute

Can we plant potatoes now or wait, has the season finished, I have some potatoes sprouting on the windowsill, would be nice if I could even just grow 1

Well done G, Campo Girls get their first spud!

[CampoGirl Gina]

Great isnt it!!

I reckon you should just pop it in the ground now, if mine have survived the frost we have had then I cant see it will make a difference, possibly better now as it seems to have warmed up a bit.

[Alec]

I noticed that our local producer had been spraying his potatoes during the past couple of weeks, and I asked him what he was using - and why.

The answer came as a great surprise. Firstly he was spraying a fungicide against blight - something I never worried about in the U.K. unless there was some warm, damp weather around May/June. But also, because of the recent chilly nights, he was spraying an anti-freeze! Not the normal car stuff of course - but this is something really new. Another dubious chemical to worry about, no doubt.

He was also complaining about the poor quality of the seed potatoes on sale this year, as many were rotting and replacements had to be brought in from France.

Those I planted about three weeks ago are now big, healthy plants, but a couple didn't come up and I replaced them about ten days ago. The replacements are much slower to germinate and grow, so - in reply to a previous question - maybe you have just missed the boat for this year?

Alec.