Wednesday 4 January 2012

the Simple Spud........

The other day the wife and I were looking for bargains at our local garden centre, but what made me start thinking was in the entrance were LOADS of potato seeds, is that time already I asked myself, last year was a bit of a rush for me as we didn’t get the plot till late in the year, May in fact so we didn’t really think about potatoes until late spring.
So this year I want to be ready as they make up a good bulk of your allotment also are great for braking up the soil.

I only grew 3 varieties last year all main crops:
·         Sante
·         Maris piper
·         King Edwards

We didn’t really chit them and just put them in and hoped. To my surprise we had a really good crop of potatoes the Sante I was practically surprised with as they were very prolific and tasted great.
this was last years Sante Crop from 2 rows 2m long about 30KG!
So this year I wanted to give them a bit of attention so started thinking and actually didn’t really know much about “chitting” and why it’s done so I consulted my friends at Uk Veg Gardeners and I was directed to a company called JBA seed potatoes the site was AMASING the chef in me was getting excited about all the old heritage variety’s and the gardener in me was just plain getting carried away!. I started making a list which when I finished consisted of 19 different varieties, hhmmmmm………. Needed to narrow it down a little so goggled them all to find what was good and what needed more TLC than others and managed to narrow it down to 9 they are:
·         Winston First early
·         Ulster Classic First early
·         Dr McIntosh Second early
·         Doon Pearl Second early
·         Maxine Main Crop
·         Majestic Main Crop
·         Sante Main Crop
·         Ryecroft Purple Main Crop

I got 10 tubers of each the plan is to grow 1 row of each and see what does well and what needs changing for 2013.
Putting my chef hat on some of these are old varieties need to be brought into the main stream to keep some of our heritage from vanishing all together. And by purchasing some I hope to play my part in it and I will be singing from the rooftops to all my friends and family and fellow Allotmenters about how great they are.
So the date set in the Calendar is Wednesday 25th January that’s the delivery date! I have started collecting Egg trays from work in readiness!   

11 comments:

  1. Sounds like an interesting selection - I've never heard of most of them - looking forward to reading about the results of your trials.

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  2. Yes i cant wait to see the results too and see whats good and what tastes great.

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  3. Good on you for trying various varieties like this. I tend to stick with the four that I like as I don't really have room to try out others.
    Cheers, Flighty.

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  4. Best to try a few varieties to cover plenty of soil and weather conditions. We grew Winston for the first time last year and were impressed by taste and weight of crop. Looking forward to seeing how those heritage varieties do.

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  5. It amazes me as to how many potato varieties there are - we buy from Alan Romans and he has over a hundred varieties and you have some that I've never heard of and he hasn't listed e.g. Doon Pearl which has a fascinating name - I wonder how it will 'do'.

    Thanks for commenting on my blog too.

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  6. Other tha Greenfingers41, I know of only one other person who actually rates Winston as an eater - it tends to be grown as an exhibition potato for the white potato classes - to me it tastes soapy - I grew it last year for showing and what didn't make the show grade got binned after the first tasting !!

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  7. Recommending potatoes is difficult as flavour can be affected so much by soil and growing conditions. For instance we grew International Kidney which is the same variety as Jersey Royals but we were totally unimpressed. We grew Winston on recommendation from a friend who said he really liked it and certainly wouldn't have eaten anything that tasted soapy! It is also rated on several websites as having good flavour too. I guess you just have to try things yourself to find out what potatoes really will taste like and how well they do in your own environment.

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  8. Being a chef I look at these in a slightly diffent way, i am looking for what indavidual qualitys a potato can make to a dish for exsample a potato that is really starchy would be perfect for Daulphionise plotato as this would aid in thickerning the cream thus making a better sauce for the potato using one that would break up easy would tend to be hold onto the water thus making a very sloppy sacue, i belive anything is worth trying once and if it doesnt work then there is alway next year.
    Being a chef really does help me select the right veg to grow (i hope!) like last year i found that beetroot Bolthady was nothing compared to the golden sweetness of golden detroit and this year thats all i will grow it was wonderful as a beetroot salad or roasted with honey.

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    1. I have seen no mention of Pink Fir Apple.Last year I grew Swift,Estima & Pink Fir Apple. In the rain for the first time used nematodes to combat slugs,no slug damage but this was a very dry year . They all tasted great when dug up and the PFA are still firm stored in the garage.

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    2. to be honest i am not really a big fan of PFA thats why i dont grow them, use them allot in the kitchen at work in the summer months as they make though as they make fantastic potato salad.

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  9. Thats a fair collection of tatties. I take it you don't really like a dry tattie. But as you have stated you look for different qualities in your tattie. Good luck with them

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