New to gardening and need advice

[ALime]

So at the beginning of the lockdown faze, myself (like everyone else) decided that I wanted to be sufficient and grow my own veg. I started with an easy one and planted some potatoes. I got told that when they flowered they were ready so I dug them up but they were tiny and I mean the size of a pea. What went wrong?

 

[lostinthelight]

Early varieties You can start digging for a taster during flowering but should wait until flowers have died right back for better crop , for maincrop the tubers will keep on swelling until the greenery has died back..thats if slugs and blight hasnt had them first

 

[jcr71]

they are ready to come out from flowering onwards. the longer you leave them in the larger they will be. i often dig them out in the winter.

 

[sodthisforfun]

So at the beginning of the lockdown faze, myself (like everyone else) decided that I wanted to be sufficient and grow my own veg. I started with an easy one and planted some potatoes. I got told that when they flowered they were ready so I dug them up but they were tiny and I mean the size of a pea. What went wrong?

Am afraid you were told wrong. I leave all my spuds, earlies and maincrop to die back before digging. With maincrop, when the plant, not just the flowers, starts to die back you can cut them down to a few inches above soil, then leave for a week or two. It toughens the skin meaning they will store better.

If you grow them again next year, they store better if you leave them somewhere dark and dry with a dusting of soil on them too (don't wash them), they will last a few months like that

 

[conny]

When you grow potatoes you should bank up the soil around them when the shoots are about 2" high. Each time they grow 2" bank up again until you have done this a number of times then leave them to flower. After the flowers have died off the leaves and stems will eventually start to wither and die back. After they have died back a bit do a bit of exploring with your fingers to see if you can feel how big the pots' seem to be. If they feel big enough for you just dig one plant up to check. If most are still small leave the rest for a few more weeks and do it again.
Some people seem to be able to plant the seedlings, leave them without too much attention and get great crops, others don't seem to be very successful no matter what they do.
Don't get disheartened. Gardening is an art that needs patience and acceptance that some things will fail. Next year they may not.