Irelandscapes | N Irish Potato Farming, with Willie John Anderson (documentary with interviews + scenery) @Irelandscapes | Uploaded June 2023 | Updated October 2024, 28 minutes ago.
A chat up at Willie John's farm in Craigantlet about Spring ploughing fields for potatoes near Portaferry, leads to a trip down to Comber for more information. It's not a simple business! There's a lot of work and planning to be done - choosing and preparing a field before any seed is eventually planted. There's the rains to consider, the type of soil, the stones to remove, and the potato variety itself. Then there's knowing when to harvest after the plant above the ground gives the right signals to the farmer. Harvested potatoes have to be wisely stored and new potatoes have to be gathered daily for farm shop customers.
The basic process - all done in the same year, beginning Feb/Mar:
(1) choose the right field (dry and preferably a former barley field vs grass)
(2) plough the field
(3) fertilise the field, and 'bedform' - create 'ridges' with rotavating, removing the stones in the soil at the same time
(4) choose your crop according to the customers needs - size and versatility
(4) drill the ridges to plant with seed potatoes (approx 2 weeks after plough)
(5) choose whether to 'blanket' the crop with a fleece which protects and accelerates growth of early planted varieties
(5) harvest when the flower has gone and the plant begins to fade
A big thank you to Willie John Anderson of Holywood, and the Horners of Comber.
Watch out for another Irelandscapes film on Irish potato growing later this year.
Summit - by Jonny Easton
Link:
• Soft Piano Music ...
A chat up at Willie John's farm in Craigantlet about Spring ploughing fields for potatoes near Portaferry, leads to a trip down to Comber for more information. It's not a simple business! There's a lot of work and planning to be done - choosing and preparing a field before any seed is eventually planted. There's the rains to consider, the type of soil, the stones to remove, and the potato variety itself. Then there's knowing when to harvest after the plant above the ground gives the right signals to the farmer. Harvested potatoes have to be wisely stored and new potatoes have to be gathered daily for farm shop customers.
The basic process - all done in the same year, beginning Feb/Mar:
(1) choose the right field (dry and preferably a former barley field vs grass)
(2) plough the field
(3) fertilise the field, and 'bedform' - create 'ridges' with rotavating, removing the stones in the soil at the same time
(4) choose your crop according to the customers needs - size and versatility
(4) drill the ridges to plant with seed potatoes (approx 2 weeks after plough)
(5) choose whether to 'blanket' the crop with a fleece which protects and accelerates growth of early planted varieties
(5) harvest when the flower has gone and the plant begins to fade
A big thank you to Willie John Anderson of Holywood, and the Horners of Comber.
Watch out for another Irelandscapes film on Irish potato growing later this year.
Summit - by Jonny Easton
Link:
• Soft Piano Music ...
