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If the spuds have holes in them then the main culprits are most probably slugs. If nibbled on the outside then rats or mice, I have a big problem with rats because of the pigeon cott next door Don't get much damage from slugs after I treated the garden with slug nematodes some years ago.

Were the original seed potatoes from a certified source?

Yes, that's the idea. I'm lucky in that the soil in my allotment was "virgin"/new when we recovered the area...Most of the gardens and allotments around here are riddled with eel worm because the gardeners could not afford to buy in certified seed potatoes. The only catastrophe I've had with...

Another way to deter mice/voles/birds from attacking your peas/beans is to soak them in paraffin over night. Worked for me, learned this from a gardener that grew tomatoe plants to sell. stopped doing it when paraffin became expensive..

I have kept some back to use as seed potatoes with no problems. But I have noticed if they are quite small then I don't get much of a crop from them. I did a non scientific experiment in 2018 when I started some small spuds, approx 1.5/2 inch diameter of in pots of compost in the poly in the...

That is the same problem I had with the peas.. The culprit is a beetle, I call a flee beetle, don't know if that is the correct name. By planting the seeds earlier in troughs you are giving the plants a better chance to survive. The roots are much stronger. The beetles still have a go at them...

Pargyle Do the leaves of the peas have notches in them?. If I plant pea seeds straight into the ground in my allotment most of them fail because of predation. I now plant the seeds in troughs made from 2 ft approx lengths of rainwater guttering, filled with garden compost, I use the stuff from...

I used Encarsia Formosa in my old greenhouse some years ago. I dismantled it and rebuilt it as a lean to greenhouse up my allotment.. The whitefly in the old greenhouse was decimated, and the immunity was trasferred to the new location... For those not familiar with Encarsia Formosa, it is a...

All the growing plots in my allotment are in the form of "raised beds" They are all contained within paths, each path is lined with flagstones and are filled with rubble from the allotment, I then covered the top of the paths with a stone dust and cement mix. The area was being used by the...

Have tried to grow asparagus four times over 12 years . Each attempt failed. Last time I tried it was in a cold frame that had a 2 ft layer of sand mixed with some stable manure. Put the "lights" on to over winter the plants, made sure there was plenty of ventilation. They started to grow in the...

When I was on holiday on Tenerife approx 10 years ago I was intrigued by the way the "growers" used to collect the water from the highlands and chanelled it down the mountain/hillsides in troughs and pipes. Spoke to a few veg growers and asked what types of spuds they grew. They grow many types...

I have tried growing earlies under clotches, but the resulting crop made me decide not to bother growing them again.

Could be, if it is/was they came in with the Sarpo Mira seed spuds that I planted approx 10 years ago.. Adjacent patches are not affected... Tried a row of 5 seed pots 3 years ago and had the same result. The "patches" in the allotment are seperated by deep rubble filled paths, each patch is...

Seaweed really improves the flavour of potatoes...Tried Anya and Desiree in the past, Desiree gave a good crop for a few years than it was decimated by blight...didn't get much of a crop from Anya, early spuds don't grow well up here, too cold and wet early in the year.. Tried Sarpo Mira when...

I had a good crop (as usual)...I grow Nicola and Picasso. from approx 50 seed spuds of each variety the return was Nicola 12x14litre black builder buckets.....Picasso 14 buckets, most of the spuds were of a good size with some very large ones...The only fertilizers I use are Blood/fish/bone...

I was stationed at RAF Locking 1960/3 as a Trenchard Brat...( Radio aircraft apprentice) ..."slide and glide" was standard issue bog paper for many years...In '65 I had corrective surgery on my bottom lip (kissed a cricket ball and then a rugby boot, and a few punchups).. at RAF Wroughton...

We had several Polish pilots at RAF Odiham...I flew many times with one as observer/lookout Flt Lt Krawinsky...("call me "Jock I live in Scotland before you born!!" was his favourite saying)...He was a trainer/test pilot on the helicopter conversion unit...Often he would make me take the...

Got It...Me with MK XIV Spitfire fitted with a Griffon engine...Taken at RAF Odiham in '63 (approx)...I had just done a "turn round" inspection on the radios when the pilot took the photo...

I worked on Vulcans for a very short time in the '60s...The "howl" from the engines was horrific. We weren't issued with ear defenders in those days...I aquired a aircrew "bonnet" with inbuilt ear phones to converse with the aircrew when working as ground crew....Also worked and flew in Comet C4...

The surgeon that supervised my larynxoscopy (Mr Berry) now works on the new units...The surgeon that did the opp was Mr Smith....It was his first "lead" surgeon opp to do a complete removal...Whenever I'm in the clinic he tells any newbees that I was his first "experiment"...Lovely...