Topic: Sarpo Mira/Axona comment.

[telboy]

Just dibbing into my last bag of stored Sarpo.
I haven't been impressed with the variety so far except that the 'blight' was held at bay. The pots. I find now are quite 'rubbery'.
I don't think I'll try them again, for those who have, what are your comments?

[moonbells]

I like them. We ate the last, enormous Mira for Valentine's day, roasted.  It did the two of us! I find they keep very well and are quite slug-resistant in my chalk-flint very free-draining soil. 

For most spuds I prefer waxy but these floury ones do roast exceptionally well. 

I think last year, however, was a very funny one for spuds, as it was so dry, even the waxy ones were falling in the pan.  Try again:  if we get a very blighty damp summer then you'll probably get totally different results.

moonbells (growing 12 of them this year, after last year's eight)

[delboy]

Certainly no storage problems - had them in peat and still have a dozen or so left.

Am going for 15 each of mira and axona this year as the blight and slug resistance made all the others I planted look a waste of time and effort.

Clay subsoil here with about 9" of dirt on top. Well drained after a flooded winter.

Spuds always seem to be local conditions dependant.

[real food]

:) I have my Axona potatoes stored in sacks in a cold outhouse and they are still in excellent condition. Best of all, they have still not started to sprout and therefore should store for a bit longer.  They have a long dormancy, which makes them very useful for storing. I have had to use up the other varieties that I had stored as they were sprouting.

[djbrenton]

As an experiment I left one row of Mira in the ground and am harvesting them as I need them. They seem to have survived well but I won't grow them this year as I found them uninteresting to eat.

[philcooper]

DJB,

From other comments I have seen, lifting and storing improves the flavour - Sarpo are not unusual in tis respect

Phil

[redimp]

Slightly off topic but have to say I was stunned by the improvement in my King Eds after they had been stored for a while.  They were nice anyway but after about a month in the sack, the flavour was unbelieveable. This doesn't seem to happen to the commercial ones.