do i have to harvest my potatoes now ?
Answers:
Different varieties mature at different times.
Also it depends if you want 'new' spuds or maincrop . For 'new' harvest when the flowers appear. For a storing crop leave in the soil until the stems are brown and withered. Also you can harvest anytime in between as you need them.
The little tomato things make no difference, it only means that the tubers are big enough to support them.
Blight can kill off the foliage early, so if you want to maximize the crop spray with a mixture of copper sulphate and hydrated lime, at the first sign of brown or melting spots on the foliage.
If you want to keep blighted spuds ,leave them in the ground until the frosts have killed off the blight spoors.
If there was no blight ,I used to sneak out the side potatoes as they got large enough , then re-cover the roots and let the others carry on growing as long as the plants were green.
Other answers:
Pull 'em now!
Pull 'em now!
Once the stems dry out, they are ready; and they will not grow any more. You should harvest them within a couple of weeks after that.
MM can I come over for dinner? I love veggies any hoot I am not sure but I think you answered your own question from the little I do know.
i have never gathered my potatoes until after the plant starts to die,unless I just want a few fresh ones with my green beans.
Check one plant, and see, how big they are. You can harvest some,now if they are not green. You can wait up until frost, and sometimes after, as long as it isn't a hard frost.
late august early september for picking maincrop ideally wait for the foliage to die back before harvesting but you can dig some now for eating as new potatoes
i recommend Alan Romans potato book, It's very informative.