Allotments 4 All

Last week i orded my spuds for next year.the varieties are;arran pilot
                                                                                               kestrel
                                                                                               vitelotte noir
Does anyone have expierence with one of these?

Hi Ruud. I've tried Arran Pilot a couple of times, but, never had much joy with it on my North Midland, moderately clayey soil. Having said that, one or two of the older blokes reckon it's the bees knees.
  Kestrel seems to be one of the most reliable spuds going. I've never tried vitelotte noir. Is it a new variety? :)

Another vote for Kestrel Ruud.    ;D ;D ;D

Mark what do they mean bees knees,is that something about pollination.My soil is sandy so maybe arran pilot will grow better on it.Vitelote noir is a french one it is a purple one,also inside purple coloured.

We grew Arran Pilot in 2005 and 2006, was quite successful (i.e. plenty of spuds) but none of us can remember what they tasted like!

The taste will vary with each garden, I used to grow Arran Pilot but as an early it does get large very quickly. I always grow Kestrel in our soil it gives a good crop and cooks well.

I grew Picasso & Roseval last year - very impressed by both (even though the Roseval were got at by the slugs). Charlotte's good too, and Belle de Fontenay's very tasty. Agree about Kestrel. Never grown Arran Pilot - from the comments I don't think I'll bother.
My current favourite early is Lady Chrystl, although for years it was Home Guard.

rudd
  "Bees knees" just means they are very good, I don't understand why it means that either

Quote from: bedrockdave on December 30, 2007, 19:56:52
rudd
  "Bees knees" just means they are very good, I don't understand why it means that either

For 'Bee's knees' read 'Business'.   :)

Aaron Pilot are my favourite early, grown on sandy soil - no other early tastes better for me.

Kestrel make the most fantastic chips - very crispy.

We grew aaron pilot last year and I was impressed and shall grow them again.

I've grown Arran Pilot for the last 2 years, and will continue to do so.   :)

Hi all

I ordered my Spuds  back in august for delivery in feb i went for

Anya
Sarpo Axona

this is my second  year witht he plot and suffered blight badly last year and these are meant to be resistant.


Ian

In at Easter Anya can be out by the end of July, which will miss the blight in many areas!
;D

hiya, forestry.guy, welcome to the site, last year we did swift in the poly, very early, ulster prince 1st early outside, lovely taste, kestrel, 2nd early  and desiree grew as main but, due to flooding, pulled up in july..our problem's usually slugs and they don't seem to like red spuds  ;D

Hi, what a great forum and a great wealth of knowledge for a newbie like myself.
I got a little excited and have bought mine already and are set out to chit in the spare room. Varities i bought were.
Aran Pilot
Maris Peer
Charlotte
Maris Piper
Desiree
Pink Fir Apple
Do you think i have bought them too early and would love your opinions on my choices. Thanks Minty X

Hi Minty. You're right to get them off chitting straight away, and no, you're not too early. Mine haven't arrived yet, or I'd be doing the same.

Might I suggest that it may be a tad warm for them in the house, unless your spare room is unheated. I chit mine in the lottie shed, on a high shelf out of the reach of mice. They don't mind the cold, and are fine as long as you cover them up when frost is forecast.

It's worth giving the shoots a light foliar spray with a weak seaweed solution, once a week. Any liquid fertiliser will suffice, but they do like the seaweed!
This results in stronger and healthier shoots, and seems to get the spuds off to a flying start. Don't drench them though, or rot may set in.

Hello and Welcome to Minty and Forestry Guy.

Happy Spudding  ;D

Lauren

Hi Rob thanks for the advice.The seed potatoes are set out to chit in a unheated bedroom so hope they will be ok as it is very cool in there.
Did think of putting them in my shed at the allotment but it is a very old windy cold old thing so thought it better at home(where i can excitedly keep checking them every hour, really must get out more).

As you can see my choice is a mix of earlies, second earlies, salad and maincrop.

I was hoping to get the earlies and salad in at the end of Feb and the second earlies mid march. When would you recommend putting the main crop in ? my assumption is about the begining of April, but they would have chits the size of palm trees by then wouldn`t they ?????

Thanks for the welcome Lauren, great to be here..
Thanks Minty X

I do like your avatar, Lauren. Where did you come across it? :)

Another vote for Kestrel. Could cope with being left to its own devices and not watered, plus it tasted good as a baker and kept well.

I'm thinking of planting first earlies again this year. I tried Forermost a few years ago but was disappointed with the flavour (insipid) and crop (about 4 potatoes per plant!). Home Guard sounds more flavourful and a better bet for my now hillside plot.

I see Trevor_D you changed from Home Guard to Lady Christl - do you think it has a better flavour and/or crops better?

I am so envious of your potato discussions! Here in France there aren't at all the same varieties!!!
But as last year I was (like yeah, like no, but like yeah...) soooo newbie, I had no idea what types of spuds to plant!!  ;D ;D ;D this year I have put on the Sherlock Holmes deerhunter and read all the A4A info about spuds and realized that not all spuds grow at the same time etc so this time I went to my spuds order armed and dangerous, tee hee!
I ended up ordering:
an early, Amandine, I have eaten them before and they are lovely, fine texture,
a mid-season, called Bernadette, which claims to be a good cropper (and mostly because it was on special offer...)
a maincrop called Caesar which they say is especially good for chips and baking, and a long storer so I will give that a go.
These all come in packs of 25 so I am not sure how many kilos I will actually end up with (assuming they grow of course). I hope to get something as seed potatoes are quite dear here, about 5 euros for 25 (that's about 3.50 sterling).
At least this year with your help I might look like more of an old hand  :D

Thanks Rob The Rake...I make ALL my own avatars. It's great fun  ;D

Had time to spare so I made you your own. Hope you like it.
Lauren  :)

 just got the list from the allotment shop we use

1st earlies  pentland javelin, nadine, foremost, rocket, winston

2nd earlies wilja, nadine, kestrel, charlotte

main  majestic, desiree, king edward, sante, valor and ulster prince

all are 70p per kilo apart from ulster prince which are 80p per kilo..
there are a  couple I've never tried, foremost and majestic, anyone tried them  ;D

Having a major try-out year...some will have to go in containers:

First Early
Lady Christl
Winston
Second Early
Anya
Charlotte
Vivaldi
Early Main
Belle de Fontenay
Mayan Gold
Salad Blue
Late Main
Rooster
Pink Fir
Pomeroy


All new to me except Pink Fir and Belle De Fontenay

Before I order some seed pots., can anyone tell me the most blight resistant ones?  Thanks.

Another vote for Kestrel.  I've grown them under black plastic for the past 3 years and had great results.  You can lift them early when they're a bit small, but taste superb.
Another big plus is that slugs don't seem to fancy them at all!!  Even under the moist dark black plastic.
They can be chipped, roasted and boiled; but keep an eye on them when boiling since, if you turn your back on them, they rapidly turn to mush!! :)

Quote from: tomatoada on January 04, 2008, 20:11:39
Before I order some seed pots., can anyone tell me the most blight resistant ones?  Thanks.

Anya
Arran Pilot
Arran Victory             
Cara
Charlotte
Desiree
Estima
Foremost
Kerrs Pink
Lady Balfour
Majestic
Marfona
Maris Bard
Maris Peer
Maris Piper
Markies
Nadine
Pentland Crown
Picasso
Pomeroy
Ratte
Romano
Sarpo Axona
Sarpo Mira
Saxon
Sharpes Expres
Swift

Lauren  :)

As I said before I will stick with Kestrel again this year and I got my earlies from B&Q today, Arran Pilot and Pentland Javelin.  :P    ;D ;D ;D

Hi Tomatoada...
Bligth resistance is a strange thing... but
Growing First earlies, second earlies and early mains means you can get most out most years before it arrives... late mains like PFA you have to be lucky with the weather...
The Hungarian "Sarpo" are the current most blight resistant... but that could change once they are widely grown...
:-X

Hi all,
My first year growing spuds (or anything for that matter) and I went out and bought some seed pots yesterday.
Without any particular reasoning I went for Arran Pilot and Maris Piper.  I just wanted to clarify something that was touched upon earlier in this thread - Is it too early to start chitting them now?

It says on the bag to sow them in early March, and it seems like a really long time to be chitting them.

I was thinking of keeping them in a dark cupboard for a while and chitting later.  Kinda wish I hadnt bought them yet!

I live on the South Coast - might I be able to sow a bit earlier?

Thanks
James

Set them to chit now, leaving them in a dark place will just make long spindly shoots which are no good... get them into things like egg boxes and put on top of a wardrobe out of the way...
;D

Hi JJ I chitted mine this morning, I left mine in the lottie shed which has a small window, so will let enough light in and be cold enough, as Saddad says a dark room will affect the shoots.  ;D ;D ;D

Most people around here put their earlies in all together and then complain when they get too big.
I always keep a bagful of earlies in the salad drawer at the bottom of the fridge much to the wifes displeasure. [Although she does not complain as much when she is eating them.]  I exclude light by keeping them in a proper potato bag [like the old PE kit bag for those that are as old as me]. Betterware or similar usually have them.
They can keep without shooting until June/July even, although Javelin do seem to keep the better than most.
Take them out of the fridge as and when required and put them straight in the trench as they do not need chitting then. They grow quickly at that time of year and you can be harvesting nice small earlies right through.
[Only problem, of course, is when we have the dreaded blight.]

I've ordered Lady Christl, Kestrel and Picasso. They're all repeat buys because they have been good in the past. My experiment for this season is Kerr's Pink which i haven't tried before.

I can't for the life of me think why I chose it!!

Anyone else notice that Pink Fir Apple seemed to resist blight better than other maincrops this year?

In Terry Walton's book 'Life on a hillside allotment' He says that he grows mainly early spuds and does not bother with main crop as this way he has get a crop before blight sets in. What do you think to this theory. We saved many of our arran pilot by par-cooking and freezing last year and they were really good. How long will earlies keep in storage?

Sorry, pg, only just picked up on your query about Lady Chrystl versus Home Guard. Home Guard taste better, but Lady C keeps the new potato texture (Home Guard, like most earlies, eventually goes a bit floury; though it's not as bad as some!). The main advantage of Lady C is that it's earlier than any I've yet found. My birthday's at the beginning of June and it hasn't failed to provide me with a picking yet. Last year I tried growing both, but the Lady C were so prolific we left half the Home Guard in the ground & dug them with the main crop. As they're not good keepers, that seems a bit of a waste. Perhaps if I just grew a dozen of each? On the other hand, I rather like morton's idea....

I just re-read this thread, as today I worked out how many spuds I could fit in the space I had allowed for them, and put the right amount out to chit.  I found that I still have loads left. (newbie error i guess).

Just remembered what Morton said about keeping spares in the fridge for sowing later.  Sounds ideal!
Regarding the comment about keeping light out with a PE bag...   Im pretty sure the light goes out in fridge when I close the door (but can never be certain without opening the door to check!!  ;),  so im hoping the darkness and cold of the fridge will at least preserve them for a few months.

I toyed with giving them away at the site shop, or on freecycle, but its my first year and I dont know if I might need replacements!

The expensive ones they sell in June/July for Xmas New Potatoes are just kept in cold storage( a very big fridge!)
;D

 not sure of the quantity to order how many seed potatoes do i need for  say 3 rows about 30 feet long?