Topic: Potato vatieties for 2012?

[kt.]

My results were as follows:

Charlotte - always successful
Kestrel - never fails.
Orla - trial for this year but wont bother gain.
International kidney - same as orla

My Desiree this past 2 years has had scab so did not bother this year.  Any suggestions for large spuds to use for jacket baking potatoes - early, 2nds and lates please.

[Sparkly]

My results were as follows:

blue danube - decent crop, very little slug damage
rooster - nice baking size potatoes, but the slugs liked them! Were very good a few weeks ago so lesson is to get these up rather than leave when the wet weather hits.
mayan gold - total rubbish. Tiny and the plants looked quite pathetic also slugs had the lot!
kestrel - excellent as always
anya - love these. A big cropper for us.
international kidney - like these as early potatoes
british queen - taste was wonderful, but tiny little heritage potatoes which were a real pain to find and peel.

next year we are going for rooster, blue danube, kestel, anya, international kidney and aalad blue.

[gazza1960]

As it was our 1st proper season on the plot and not being too "offay" with most of the aforementioned varieties we went with traditional types that I guess we have brought in "tesco",hence Desiree/Charlottes/Pink fur apple and Good Ol faithful King edwards found there way under ground and all grew really well and we have about 8 hessian sacks of our 4 types, but unless I see a bag of something unusual with the names you folks mentioned for sale in our local stores its bloomin hard to sow something you know nothing about in the hope (A) they grow well....and (B) you enjoy its taste after waiting quite a few months.
Yes, we may be missing out,but boy,what a great 1st growing tatter season.....  :D...and I guess the same 4 will
be grown again next term.

Gazza

[chriscross1966]

Gazza, see if you can find a potato day local to you come January/february time.... You can buy seed potatoes by the tuber at them so it's an easy way to:
1: Try lots of different varieties without having to commit to a big row of them; and
2: Brush up on your map-making skills so that you can keep track of the four rows of spuds with no more than three of any type in...

Some bigger/better GC's also do potatoes individually,


chrisc

[gazza1960]

yer,were up for trying new things chris,Ill have a gander around in the Middlesex area come the new year.

Cheers

Gazza1960

[1066]

1066, I grew Shetland black this year, not that impressed. I noticed on Daughter of the Soil's web site she makes reference to the differences between true Shetland Black and those that are commercially available. 
What were Belle De Fontenay like?

Hmm, thanks for the infor about Shetland Black, I might have a re-think.
The Belle to Fontenay were lovely, did ok in my soil, diidn't get munched by slugs (particularly), not a massive cropper  but then none of the spuds were this year anyway. I think I prefer the Ratte for taste - nice a buttery.
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[ru2010]

This was our first year on the allotment and our first year growing potatoes.

We grew Swift and Maris Bard as earlies - I kept them separate on an egg tray on a shelf in the shed but things went awry when the shelf collapsed! My crop of miscellaneous earlies was rather mixed! A reasonable yield from some plants but disappointing from others.

As a main we grew Harlequin, as a recommendation from my aunt (who has a number of allotments!) - these are a cross between Charlotte and Pink Fir Apple and come as a late second early or an early main crop. They had previously been unavailable but I tracked doen a supplier in Scotland.

Anyway, we were very happy with he delicious nutty taste, even shape, pest resistance and yield of about 4 - 5 pounds per plant.

We may grow them again next year, or may try for a proper roaster!!

[Monkey Brains]

Growing Wilja again, as they're delicious.

And Pink Fir - really really tasty as a cold salad potato.

Going to put some King Edwards in - one of our allotment neighbours gave us some they'd grown - really tasty baked potatoes.

And trying Yukon Gold next year too - it's one that Raymond Blanc recommended (and on trying them this year I have to agree with some of this other vegetable variety recommendations)  :P

[mpdjulie]

Growing Wilja again, as they're delicious.

And Pink Fir - really really tasty as a cold salad potato.

Going to put some King Edwards in - one of our allotment neighbours gave us some they'd grown - really tasty baked potatoes.

And trying Yukon Gold next year too - it's one that Raymond Blanc recommended (and on trying them this year I have to agree with some of this other vegetable variety recommendations)  :P

Yukon gold do taste absolutely delicious and have a massive yield but I'm not sure I'm going to do them again this year.  They disintegrate terribly when boiling but they do make lovely crispy yet fluffy inside chips.

[Dandytown]

And Pink Fir - really really tasty as a cold salad potato.

Completely agree!

[grawrc]

[/quote]
The Belle to Fontenay were lovely, did ok in my soil, diidn't get munched by slugs (particularly), not a massive cropper  but then none of the spuds were this year anyway. I think I prefer the Ratte for taste - nice a buttery.
[attachment=1]
[/quote]
Are you sure that's the right photo, Ten?
Looks more like Anya
http://www.lovepotatoes.co.uk/the-potato/potato-varieties/anya/
than Belle de Fontenay !!
http://www.lovepotatoes.co.uk/the-potato/potato-varieties/belle-de-fontenay/