Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => Swap Shop => Topic started by: angle shades on April 08, 2007, 09:45:17
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:)
does anyone have any seed to spare?
these were part of my heritage seed library order, but I didn't get them :(
if I'm lucky let me know what you would like in return
many thanks /shades x
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Me three...
:-\
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:)
ooooooooooooooooo I got all excited there for a moment!
thought you were the man who would have some :(
thanks for replying/ shades x
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i asked for them too but didnt get any! I got altringham instead.
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They are really popular!
;D
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:)
I got Bonny Lad broad beans instead! /shades x
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I tried too and failed! They must be really good!
barkingdog
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I think we must get our orders in earlier next year!
I plan on letting alot of what i got run to seed to save and swap for next year... what else did you guys get?
i got Maltese Marrow, Mammoth Leek, Asparagus Kale, Asparagus lettuce, Mcpartlin peas, altringham carrot. Forgot to add Orange Banana Tomato!
Yes it would be good to do an HSL swap.
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I got:
Climbing French Bean - Cherokee of Trail of Tears
Climbing French Bean - Birds Egg
Pea - Lancashire Lad
Tomato - Mrs Taylor's Red Pear
Lettuce - Brown Goldring
Lettuce - Bunyards Matchless
It would be good to do a heritage seed swap wouldn't it?
barkingdog
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I just joined, received my pack of stuff on Thursday, it says I can still ask for seeds past the usual deadline because I am a new member and missed it. Does anyone have any ideas what I will get. XX Jeannine
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:)
I got:
Broad bean- Bonny Lad
Pea-Duke of Albany
Pea-Kent Blue
Tomato-Snowwhite Cherry
Tomato-Scotland Yellow
Climbing French Bean-Extra Hatif De Juillet and
lucky dip packet-Asparagus Lettuce!
I'm game for HSL swap, happy growing! /shades x
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I didn't get the Afghan purple carrot either, although I did get 2 lucky dip packets rather than 1 :D and most of my other 1st choices. Can't remember what they were now, but I'd be interested in swapping HSL seeds next year. I actually received a few seeds from other HSL members too, so it will be good to be able to pass seeds on.
SP xx
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Is Purple Dragon carrot the same thing? Then Nicky's Nursery has it. :)
It's open-pollinated variety and I did hear it is from Afghan originally.
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No it wont be the same as HSL seeds cannot be sold or grown commercially - although i have wondered about this as i am sure Organic seeds sells some of the varieties in the HSL catalogue!
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The sale rules have loosened up a bit recently... some successful HSL varieties have crept back out into the market... Sunset Runner Bean was one. You can also get round it by offering them as" free or Trial "packs..
::)
Oh and I forot to say you can count me in on a swap... tend only to do toms/peas/beans as they are easiest to keep pure...
:-[
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I too got two packets of lucky dip which I forgot to put in my previous post!
They were:
Leek - Sim Seger
Tomato - Snow White Cherry
and I've also got some peas, beans and lettuce from Saddad!
Has anyone ever used the back section of the catalogue (with the names and addresses), just wondered how it worked!
Thanks,
barkingdog
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I have committed the deadliest of gardening sins and planted every last seed of Afghan Purple. :-\However, they are growing in the greenhouse, and so I will save way more than I was going to for seed. If you don't mind the wait I'll put them on for swaps next year. :-\ (you get them in exchange for the purple podded Saddad ;) ;D)
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ahhh you greedy git! Hope they are everything you dreamed of!.
My altringham carrots grow 50cm long - can you believe it??? (not in my soil LOL)
Maybe next year we could between us work out what we want and all go for different stuff so that we can swap with each other???
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All gardeners are patient people MAPark... it comes with the territory...
::)
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Cool idea OO, we HSLers should all get together and plan our orders with military precision and hopefully we'll all get what we want! I have to say I have been lucky so far and usually got what I wanted. Mind you there has been the odd year when I left it too late and got nowt!! >:(
As for the carrots, well the soil they are going to have to grow in is cr*p - full of glass from an old greenhouse.(My allotment became the site tip for years before being reclaimed :'() so they aren't likely to be the prettiest, but I'll save as many as I can for seed :)
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Do we know how many of us there are,I have just joined so am still finding out about things XX Jeannine
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I love you MAPark ;D
No pressure then... guard those carrots with your life!/ shades x
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Oooeer! The stress!! :-\
I think I need to treat these carrots with way more care now! I have a half blue barrel on my plot which is where I stick my junk - hence the tidy plot! ;D. Methinks I will empty it and fill with a mixture of soil and compost and put my (4 so far!!) precious babies in there. What dya think?
Fingers crossed everyone - I am only a newbie! :-*
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Has anyone ever used the back section of the catalogue (with the names and addresses), just wondered how it worked!
Yes, I did. I wasn't sure how it worked either. I basically wrote to the individual listed asking if they had a few spare seeds I could have, and offering to send something in return if they so wished. I enclosed a SAE. In most cases people were very generous, I only had one reply from someone saying that I hadn't put enough postage on the SAE and that it should have been a bubble wrap type envelope, I think she was a little annoyed with me ::) But that is totally understandable, so next time I'll make sure that I put more postage (I'd forgotten that the postage had changed, and also people send more seeds than I was expecting) on the SAE.
I'm hoping that by next year I will be able to offer something in return.
SP x
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:)
I think the barrel idea will be fine MAPark,
keep us posted ;D/shades x
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Pardon me, if I am wrong but with carrotts for seed, I am pretty sure they are biennial, you won't get seeds from you carrotts next year, You will have to lift them as usual,store them over winter,then replanted in the spring, then they will regrow put out flowers about 5 feet tall from which you will get your seed which you can harvest and save for the following year. I think in a very mild area they can be left in the ground to grow again .
Sorry If I am wrong but I am pretty sure.
If I am right, maybe you should send folks carrotts this year !!
Please educate me.
XX Jeannine
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:)
no you are right Jeannine,I would leave one in the ground to go to seed, but it should be protected from other carrots so it doesn't cross pollinate.
that why i save toms,beans and peas, less trouble ;D/shades x
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Oh what a palarver! Will it be worth it??? I would most likely lose the carrot in storage!
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May I please ask what is so special about this carrot by the way,I have followed this thread with interest but would like specifics. Is it very special, can someone tell me more about it please XX Jeannine
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Quote found for you.......
"You won’t find an Afghan Purple carrot in Tesco. Or Sainsbury’s or Safeway, or even Waitrose for that matter. Supermarkets wouldn’t like it because it doesn’t look like the average customer’s idea of a carrot. For a start, it’s not orange. Nor is it really a regal purple. It’s more the colour of raw meat. As for the shape, it’s rarely cylindrical. In fact, it varies wildly. It could be anything from a map of South America to a cow’s udder to the misshapen claws of some mythical creature from the bowels of the earth.
The seed was donated to the Ryton Organic Gardens, near Coventry, by a United Nations project manager in Kabul in the days before the current conflict. If you want to grow these curious carrots yourself, you could try Ryton’s Heritage Seed Library (the £18 a year membership includes six free packets of whatever is in the catalogue). Along with the Rat’s Tail radish, Mr Bethell’s Purple Podded pea, the Lady Godiva squash, the Blue Coco climbing French bean and many other rare varieties, the Afghan Purple will be one of the stars of the Vegetable Kingdom, which should have established itself amid these flat Warwickshire fields by May 2003. Work is due to start this month. A £940,000 grant from the National Lottery has just ensured that the £1.7m project will go ahead. For Jackie Gear joint executive with husband Alan of the Ryton-based Henry Doubleday Research Association, this is the fulfilment of a long-held dream."
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Here's a pic for you Jeannine. They are supposed to have "a more pronounced 'carroty' flavour than orange varieties." Also said to have resistance to root fly.
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So you would recommend them? XX Jeannine
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I've never grown or tasted them - this is the first time I've seen the seeds offered. I love things that are a bit different so I would recommend them for that reason alone. :)
My other choices have been as random:
Hutterite bean because I studied them at uni. (The religious group not the bean!)
Cherokee Trail of Tears for the history.
Lazy Housewife CFB for the name, etc.
When I get the catalogue I sit with a cuppa and choose the ones that jump out at me, regardless of whether I think I need them or not!
The carrot has proved extremely popular, and I noticed on the Garden Organic website that you can adopt the variety which I think entitles you to the seeds. Or you could put your faith in a complete novice and wait 'til autumn 2008!! :D
I've had a word with them by the way, explained the enormity of their responsability. They were a tad non-commital, which could be a trait of carrots, or they could have needed time to ponder. ;)
I will keep you updated with their efforts to supply seeds to A4A peeps, possibly on a different thread tho' Keep your eyes peeled ;D!! ;D
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Actually the reason I ask is because I think I have found a source, I am waiting for an email back Fingers crossed everybody!!!XX Jeannine
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You mean I could actually get to EAT mine?!!! :o;D ;D ;D
Good luck, I bet angle shades dumps me for you!!! :P;D ;D
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Don't get excited the list I have might not be up to date,they were available a few weeks ago,XX Jeannine
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;D ;D.
don't worry MAPark, you can still have the pleasure/pressure of growing me some!!
I have also e -mailed HDRA, no reply yet,
I also ordered them because of the history behind them, I didn't know they were as rare as hens teeth ::)
Have you heard yet Jeannine? ;D/shades x
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I wonder how different they are from Purple Dragon, which I grew last year? Anyone know?
That variety was orange on the inside, but kept its exterior purple colour when cooked.
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I have just had an answer to my e mail and yes I have got them!!!! They are coming from the US,I am not sure how many but the seed swap there for carrotts is 60 so it should be at least that many. It will be a couple of weeks no doubt but still time to plant them this year.
XX Jeannine
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Go girl!!! ;D ;D ;D
Well done. It's not what you know but who you know!! ;)
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Hey no I didn't know anyone,the person was listed as having them in the 2007 yearbook for the US seed savers.Only 1 person was listed and I felt sure it would be too late as the book comes out in February, but I guess I just hit it lucky.
XX Jeannine
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Well I know I'm not the only one on this site to think you are a star!! ;) :D ;D
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;D
I love you all ;D /shadesx
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Well done Jeannine, you're a star! ;D
barkingdog
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The seeds arrived this morning, funny little things,they look hairy like dead bugs!! XX Jeannine
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Ahhhh well done you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D
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I am going to share with Angle Shades as it was her original post, I am soooo sorry there is only a very few and they won't stretch to anyone else,but that will make three of us growing them now which should help us all later XX Jeannine
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of course! keep us posted on their progress!
barkingdog
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seeds received today ;D thanks Jeannine,
bit scared of growing them now :P /shades x
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I ma frightened to death !! Any ideas anybody XX Jeannine
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I'm going to start them off in modules like I aways do, and then plant them under fleece.
Then save a few for seed ;D ....in theory/ shades x
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What worries me is there seemed to be so few seed in all the debris,I think I would be planting bits of muck if I tried in modules. Carrots are not one of my specialities. I do have a good bed though and I will use the fleece on them just in case a wee fly or two decides to drop in. XX Jeannine
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Hi, I wanted to bring this post to the top to see how we are doing with them and also to see if anyone else managed to find any XX Jeannine
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:) hi Jeannine,
mine came up and are under fleece at lottie,
I also found out from HSL seed news, requests for this carrot were around five-times greater than the projected demand!!
I'm in fashion for once in my life :P/ shades x
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Hi Shades, well I finally plucked up the courage to sow mine yesterday, in one of the black bins the council give us for re-cycling. I know I am bad but I wanted to use black and couldn't find one in the shops. I have filled it right to the top with potting soil, Do you think that will be OK. It is on my greenhouse bench at home right now. I was too scared to put them in a lottie bed as sometimes the Jack Russel on the plot next door digs in them.
I thought I saw a posting that someone else had found some. I was hoping to gather us all together to compare.
XX Jeannine
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Jeannine, I'm doing exactly the same thing, but with your famous Mokums! :)
Those boxes are the perfect size. The lid off our box went missing this winter and the coucil replaced the whole thing, not just the lid - what a result :P
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Oh Pye, I feel better now. We got a flyer in the mail last week saying if we wanted another black box to phone a number. I id today and said I wanted a new box, I was all prepared to tell the truth if they asked me waht happened to the last one but they didn't, they just took the address and filled in a form over the phone, the last question was did I want 1 or 2...........................Yes I did
Now where did I put that other packet of Mokums.
XX Jeannine
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:( disaster with my afghan carrots, checked under the fleece today,all the leaves look like they have been chopped off with scissors :-\ snails perhaps?/ shades x
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Oh no!!! I was just going to send a message to you to say mine are just peeping through the soil.
Maybe yours will come back,oh I do hope so.
XX Jeannine
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:) thank you!, I didn't plant all the seed just in case, so all is not lost ;)/ shades x
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Just an update. This is one of the very few things I still have,they are growing well in the greenhouse at home. About 10 inches tall now and thriving. I want to let them go to seed and save the seeds for us all next year but have never done this. There is no need to worry about cross pollination as there is no carrots anywhere near them.No carrot fly either as they are on a high bench. Has anyone got any tips! I plant to taste only 2 i coked and 1 raw, the rest are for us all.
XX Jeannine
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Jeannine, have a look at this site. Scroll down and there's an instruction for saving carrot seeds. Hope it goes well. :)
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i thought carrots were biennial, so you would store your carrots over winter and replant next year - they will then seed next year.
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Doh! I forgot to paste URL of the site! :-[ I read your other post and now know you've read the site I meant...
All I know about getting carrot seeds is select the best carrots and keep them in moist sand or something during winter, replant it in spring and let it bolt. They cross pollinate so you have to make sure there's no other variety or related species like Ammi (Queen Anne's Lace) flowering at the same time.
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Hi
I have just become a member of the HSL I received Burpees Iceburg Lettuce seeds. I will put the Afghan Purple down for next year and hope to get them if I am lucky. I will let them go to seed and put them up for the swap. I would like to be part of your seed swap if thats OK . I am hoping to have my allotment this October if my council can get it ready in time for me, I would like to grow heritage veg. I went to Wyevale and if you buy 2pkts of T&M seeds ( Half price at the moment ) you can get Heritage Beetroot Chioggia Pink Free (they are the ones that have red and white rings inside ) and you get lots of seeds if anyone would like a few seeds please ask
little- weed :0)
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Hi Littleweed If been HSL for about 15 years if you want some Peas/Beans (fr) or Toms pm me and I'll dig you some out of store... the Bronze Arrow lettuce is great as well but I don't save my own seed of that!
;D
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Hi Saddad
I have sent you a pm please would you let me know if you receive it as I'm not sure how it works
little-weed :0)
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How did you fare with these carrots....and do they taste nice. I got them in my HSL packet this time round :)
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Gosh that is a blast from the past, it was a time when they were so scarce and I got a few from a school in the US and shared them around.To be honest I don't remember, I did get them to make seed which I shared but never made them a regular grow . I can't even remember the taste except that they were not as nice as my favorite ones so didn't pursue them again.
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Thanks Jeannine :)
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I was just wondering...
What's the rationale for growing Afghan Purple Carrots ?
- Do they grow better ?
- Are they healthier, in some way ?
- Do you people simply like the 'purple'...not orangeness.. of these carrots ?
- Do they taste better then other home/allotment grown carrots ?
- Do they give a heavier harvest (in pounds or kilos) ?
Thanks to anyone/everyone that replies :-)
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Can i refresh this post to ask same questions as playground in the post above mine :)
I still have my seed from last year and wondering if we are still wanting for this site
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I was just wondering...
What's the rationale for growing Afghan Purple Carrots ?
- Do they grow better ?
- Are they healthier, in some way ?
- Do you people simply like the 'purple'...not orangeness.. of these carrots ?
- Do they taste better then other home/allotment grown carrots ?
- Do they give a heavier harvest (in pounds or kilos) ?
Thanks to anyone/everyone that replies :-)
Thanks Hector for reviving thread. Purple vegetables are getting popular, because of the anthocyanin in them. Mops up free radicals, prevents cancer etc etc. We all learned about blueberries as superfood. A small punnet costs a bomb, but the blueberry industry did a great advertising job. Other purple foods, like blackberries, blackcurrants, and, yes, purple carrots and many more are also superfoods because of the purple in them, the anthocyanin. Plants advertise their health giving properties by their colour. Different colours stand for different nutrients. This is the principle behind the 'eat the rainbow' diet advice. Not just 5 a day or more veg, but all the colours too. And purple carrots are giving us an extra 'rainbow option' in addition to orange carrots. :wave:
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What a brilliant explanation! Thank you! I did well with a different carrot in a slightly raised bed a couple of years back...so will give this a go :)
Ps seen a message from you I missed...will respond after dog walk
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James Wong last week was saying just this about purple potatoes and they compare g for g with blueberries unlike the price! He was asked if that applied to purple sweet potatoes too ...no reply but reading what galina has said quite possible so.
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Oh definitely MarkfieldRover. Here is a bit more about the scientific background: http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/110308p34.shtml
also
http://dailysuperfoodlove.com/565/the-food-color-chart-infographic/
This one mentions purple carrots:
http://healthier.qld.gov.au/about/give-colour-a-spin/
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Thank you galina , I'll pick up some sweet purple pots today. If you are anywhere near a Boston Tea Party they do a very good sweet pot dish lightly battered and served with a sour cream herby dip.
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....are you growing Sweet Potatoes....never thought we could in UK...will watch with interest as they are a favourite food
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I haven't but I know others have , have you eaten the purple ones ? Are they less sweet?
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I've got some Heritage purple potatoes currently chitting.
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Not eaten the purple sweet potatoes....yet.....but have daughter who works in posh supermarket on look out!
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What's the variety? I have Negresse, but it never produces much. I've been trying to get TPS off it; last year I had one very small berry, but it was empty. The next step is to try to graft it onto a tomato rootstock. I've only got two seeds of a rootstock variety to germinate, but I should at least be able to get seed for next year. I've got a black-skinned carrot which came from the market; I've no idea of the variety. I'm hoping to get seed off it.
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There is a new type of purple carrot called purple sun. Available from Dobies and Suttons 9actually I think these might be the same company) and others I have bought some and they are on their way!!
Waitrose do Stokes purple sweet potato tasted like a sweet potato to me, and there are slips available for Molokai purple.
If you manage to grow sweet potatoes can you then use one of the tubers to produce slips the following year. The slips are expensive, but not so bad if they are mothers of the future.
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Well M& S not got purple sweet potatos according to my spies/ daughter....so cant do a taste comment.
Digeroo thanks for that, will read up on it.
RObert, did tou get to taste the black skinned carrot?