My window sills are bulging of spuds that are nicely chitting..now we just need this weather change for bit warmer.. ::)
At the moment I've got Charlotte, Peach Bloom, Blue Belle, Doon Pearl, Saxon and Dark Red Norland. I've got Mirabel and Marilyn bought from supermarket..just odd few tuber to try. One unknown commercial variety that I grew from sprouted tops..the resulting baby potatoes were so good looking and clean from any imperfections so I just just had to save them and grow them on.. ::) ;D
I've got few landrace potatoes from Lapland that are sold in Finland with FDO granted for the name..Lapin Puikula (type of almond potato).
And then the TPS..10 varieties of them.. ;D
And we don't really eat that many potatoes in our household..must change our eating habits.
I do hope its going to bloody rain this summer..it will be utter nightmare having to keep water all that lot..
Mine are pretty boring compared to your lot.
Got charlotte and Lady C's chitting.
Have Kifli and Harlequin on order from T&M.
But I'm very tempted to grow Pink Fir Apple as I'm eating them now and they are tasty, hold together in stews and keep well. The perfect potato! If only they weren't such a pain to peel.
I don't peel em (PFA)
We are growing charlottes,maris bard,kestrel ,arron pilot,dessiree,wiljja and blue salad
R x
Quote from: Ellen K on February 11, 2012, 10:25:00
Have Kifli and Harlequin on order from T&M.
I ordered Harlequin from Pennard Plants, unfortunately without being asked they sent me Linzer Delikatess as a substitute!
Haven't got mine yet- hoping to get to Wilko's this weekend, so it'll be a case of whatever they've got.
We are only growing nadine this year. We like it better than any other potato. Its a second early so can really be used as an early and a late. It stores well. at least it did until this year.
Ellen
As Elvis said, don't peel PFA potatoes. I've never ever peeled them. I just use a stiff long-handled little brush to clean them under water, and they are fine like that.
They are what we have as our main crop throughout the winter as they keep so well, and produce a good crop as well. I've still got about half the crop storing, just beginning to shoot. I've set aside 20 to grow this year, not something I normally do, but I'll risk it for one year, then buy net year.
SWIFT AND PENTLAND JAVELIN AND NADINE
First earlies Vales Emerald, second earlies Charlotte and Kestrel and main crop Desiree all of which I grew last year.
Sorry but I'm still laughing at Ellen peeling PFA's ;)
I bought 3 kilo of Kestrel today 38 seeds for £3.30 :D
What are kesterl like Kev. Are they waxy or floury?. Do PFA,s keep and are they a maincrop.
Kestrel are waxy and wonderful! If had to only grow one spud it would be Kestrel
PFA's keep well, but are late to produce.
I might just try kestrel and a few PFA's cos Kev is always going on about them when our spuds are all gone
Shirl Kestrel are an excellent all rounder and I always grow them as they're one of my favourite potatoes. They grow nice and big, store well and I've still got enough left to see me into March!
Just back from Wilko with Maris Piper and Rocket. Don't want too many this year now there's only 2 of us most of the time.
For me, I've gone for Pentland Javelin (a usual one that I get good crops from), kestrel and Cara - both are new for me, so fingers crossed!
sheddie
Quote from: Ellen K on February 11, 2012, 10:25:00
Mine are pretty boring compared to your lot.
Got charlotte and Lady C's chitting.
Have Kifli and Harlequin on order from T&M.
But I'm very tempted to grow Pink Fir Apple as I'm eating them now and they are tasty, hold together in stews and keep well. The perfect potato! If only they weren't such a pain to peel.
Don't peel them, dig the eyes out with the tip of a knife, cut out any blemishes and leave the rest of the skin on.... I do even when I make chips from them....
Quote from: shirlton on February 11, 2012, 14:18:43
I might just try kestrel and a few PFA's cos Kev is always going on about them when our spuds are all gone
PFA's are exceptionally knobbly, you frequently get branched tubers (they look quite a lot like a Jerusalem Artichoke)... THey can be a pest to prepare if you want "normal" potatoes as the long knobbly tubers are famously hard to peel... but they taste wonderful and store pretty well too, I've still got loads and they're only just breaking dormancy now (I blame that really warm autumn and earlier part of the winter that we had for that), normally they hold till late March and I frequently find that after a couple of months on the windowsill they still haven't really chitted. THey're very late to crop too, mid-October should be though of as an early start on lifting them. THey don't seem to be particularly prone to slugs. THe plants can be pretty big, the old-fashioned nature isn't just saved for the shape of the tubers and the taste, the growth habit too betrays a lack of 150 years of breeding that's gone into modern potatoes, big untidy top-growth and a habit of forming tubers well away from the central stems.....
But it tastes great...just don't walk into growing them with your eyes shut... they need about 1.5 times the space of a modern variety and it's not a bad idea to put some flowers of sulphur in there when you plant, they don't like limey soil at all...
I have been coverted to both Kesterl and SFA. oops sorry PFA ;D
Ive got a pack of each earlies chitting in my garage...
Pentland Javelin, Wilja, Maris Peer, Nicola, Charlotte, Saxon, Nadine, Sante, Red King Edward
... and the main crop are in 2 layers of sacking just waiting.. Desiree, King Edward, Cara, Pink Fir Apple
I cant get any decent info from my plot neighbours about what to grow so i'm just doing a load of types to do some my own test!!
We have at the moment 3kg bags of Charlotte,Epicure,Wilja,Marris piper also will be trialing Marris peer,Bintji,Juliette,Milva,Pentland crown,Pentland javelin,and Roseval.
Nandine seconds once again for us, we don't eat many spuds in our house so most of them end up down the local for the lads, :)
OK, you guys have convinced me to at least try eating potato skins (though I'm still not sure why anyone would actually want to, ugh).
Jayb - I wonder if I'll be getting my Harlequin tubers now, perhaps none are available this year and T&M are putting off telling us the bad news.
Even more reason to plant PFA.
Every cloud etc
Ellen. If you have one near you, Wilkies do 5 seed potatoes for 99p, well they were last year & they had PFA. I believe they make very posh chips ;D.
Vanessa, charlotte, nadine, Lady chrystl, kestrel and desiree. We still have a bag and a half of desiree left and they're near perfect ;D
Would've liked smile but they're not doing them any more ::)
Vitelotte, Congo if any tubers have survived, PFA, King Edwards, probably an early, and Skagit Magic, Russian Blue and Blue Belle from TPS.
Vitelotte, Lady Crystl, Kestral, Orla, Lady Balfor, Cara and Sante. These were the ones I grew last year, the last 6 being the 'allotment' pack from T&M. I've decided to go with saved seed this year, although I know it isn't recommended.
Everyone loved Vitelotte, but the yield was very small, despite the fact I left them in until last, then had to dig them up to clear the landshare garden I had before the house was sold. I kept back some tubers in the hope of getting an earlier start this year.
Lady Crystl are our favourite for the first earlies, and Sante was the winner with my daughter for jackets. She took most of the crop back to uni.
I forgot the purple ones , forgotten the name but they're chitting very well ;D
Kestrel and Sarpo Mira. The Sarpo seem to do what they say on the packet although not much flavour to them. Last year had a very good crop
Ive got a bag of Duke of York - never grown them before & potato day for me is 25th Feb as I missed the other local one on 5th :'(
Here's a useful link to find out a bit more about each variety of potato- whether its waxy, floury etc..
www.lovepotatoes.co.uk
Debs x
Thanks, nice link Debs :)
Hi Puth-U-Cheary, welcome to a4a, hope you enjoy it here :) I grew S. Mira last year, have to agree it's not very flavourful! I'm growing S. Kifli again this year, I enjoyed it last year and founf it had good resilience with blight.
Thanks from me too
I like the potato council site which gives different potatoes a grading of 1 to 10 for being waxey or floury.
Casablanca
International Kidney
Nadine
Charlotte
Pixie
Piccaso
Desiree
Maris Piper
Valor
Bell de Fonteney
Earlies Swift casablanca bonnie dundee & sherine s\e kestrel main armour
2.5kgs each of Casablanca, Nadine, Picasso, & Valor. Plus a few self saved Sarpo Mira & Blue Danube from last years late planting of a T&M cheap offer that did quite well.
Nice to see others have chosen the same as me! Charlotte, Casablanca and Desiree should about cover things this year. ;)
;)....got kestrel,...foremost,king Edward,...& desire,....all set out,..chitting,....
:)........most of the vitamins,....of a spud,...are in the skins,.....so,.....i've just been...eating them fresh,...off me plot,.....koz of M.S,....have a degree of nerve damage,...in my right hand,...am right handed,...so can't peel them .too,......have dementia,...koz of the M.S,...& all the spud needs,...before cooking,...is WASHING,..getting rid of any earth,...off them,..so,...then,...they make SUCH GOOD EATING WITH THE SKINS ON,....so much better than anything,..commercially bought,...any shop bought spud,..are no where as nice as growing your own,...& freshly dug,....once washed,..they just ..........YUM YUM!.. ;D ;D ;D
Thank you for your welcome Jayb, I'm sure I will enjoy my time here. So many knowledgeable peeps.
Did S. Kifli have more flavour?
What about ones you would not grow?
Rocket too bland
What about ones you would not grow? Maris Piper....they always get horribly scabby and eaten by every possible pest.
Winston grew them for the 1st time last year and they were super, Anya love pfa but hate the nobbles so thought I'd give them a try and Majestic new one for me,
Going to try int- kidney again didn't do very well for me the 1st time a couple of yrs ago but every one else does well on our plot who grow them so going to give them a 2ND chance,
I've room for one more was thinking about doing an unusual type any ideas???
It's my first year for tatties and after much head scratching and potato variety database searching decided on Maris Bard, Nicola and Romano. Fingers crossed....
Quote from: Puth-U-Cheary on February 11, 2012, 19:35:06
Kestrel and Sarpo Mira. The Sarpo seem to do what they say on the packet although not much flavour to them. Last year had a very good crop
THey're OK baked if tat helps.... Try Setanta if you want blight-resistance and a good taste.... ANd I believe Sarpo Kilfi is supposed to be quite nice too...
Quote from: steve76 on February 12, 2012, 19:30:38
Winston grew them for the 1st time last year and they were super, Anya love pfa but hate the nobbles so thought I'd give them a try and Majestic new one for me,
Going to try int- kidney again didn't do very well for me the 1st time a couple of yrs ago but every one else does well on our plot who grow them so going to give them a 2ND chance,
I've room for one more was thinking about doing an unusual type any ideas???
A blue or purple one... from memory...
Salad BLue:- 2nd early, decent alrounder tho a bit small for baking, attracts slugs if you leave them in too long.
Congo: Ultra-late main crop, almost as knobbly as PFA, striking purple stemmed foliage
Vitelotte: I can't tell it apart from COngo.
Negresse: I can only tell it apart from COngo if I've got a pile of each... it's rounder generally (though you'll get round tubers from COngo and long ones form Negresse). Very late main.
Majestic: Not grown it but good to see a new one out there.
there are a couple of purple-skinned ones with white flesh worth trying...
Edgecote Purple: 2nd early, long flat tubers good baker and chips.
Mr Little's Yetholm Gypsy: Multicoloured skins and superb taste, standard maincrop in my experience.
Good flavour with plenty of disease resistance: Setanta, basically an update to Rooster with blight resistance....
Quote from: mickstani on February 12, 2012, 11:36:02
2.5kgs each of Casablanca, Nadine, Picasso, & Valor. Plus a few self saved Sarpo Mira & Blue Danube from last years late planting of a T&M cheap offer that did quite well.
I shall be growing Valor for the first time. Have you grown them before?
I was wondering what to do with my last few Blue Danube. Thanks for the idea of using them as seed potatoes.
Thanks chriscross1966,
I like the sound of salad blue and congo, going to pop up to the garden center a bit later and have a look..
Steve..
Quote from: steve76 on February 13, 2012, 09:19:18
Thanks chriscross1966,
I like the sound of salad blue and congo, going to pop up to the garden center a bit later and have a look..
Steve..
I don't usually recommend them cos of their prices but T+M list Congo, (as minitubers), Salad Blue, Vitelotte (as minitubers) and Yetholm Gypsy this year...
http://www.thompson-morgan.com/vegetables/potatoes/maincrop?sortBy=bestsellers&page=all (http://www.thompson-morgan.com/vegetables/potatoes/maincrop?sortBy=bestsellers&page=all)
chrisc
Bought a 3kg bag of Belle de Fontenay earlies on special and also got 15 purple vitelottes from the supermarket! Well chuffed that they are starting to chit! They were non-treated chemically :) They cost me about 50p, lol, so if I get a few kilos out of them I will be well pleased, they will amuse the kids.
I am also going to order some online, probably some red Desiree, I always do well with those, and maybe a second early.
1st - Foremost (good flavour & texture right to the end of cropping), 2nd - Charlotte (absolute favourite), Main - Desiree & Cara - all do well in this chalky part of the country. Grew a couple of PFA last year - very small crop and not particularly impressed by the taste.
Quote from: antipodes on February 13, 2012, 16:22:53
Bought a 3kg bag of Belle de Fontenay earlies on special and also got 15 purple vitelottes from the supermarket! Well chuffed that they are starting to chit! They were non-treated chemically :) They cost me about 50p, lol, so if I get a few kilos out of them I will be well pleased, they will amuse the kids.
I am also going to order some online, probably some red Desiree, I always do well with those, and maybe a second early.
Belle de Fontenay are classed as a main crop by Kings seeds etc..
Quote from: Alex133 on February 13, 2012, 16:25:01
1st - Foremost (good flavour & texture right to the end of cropping), 2nd - Charlotte (absolute favourite), Main - Desiree & Cara - all do well in this chalky part of the country. Grew a couple of PFA last year - very small crop and not particularly impressed by the taste.
PFa don't like chalk, you can acidify your soil with flowers of sulphur if you want ... or grow lime-tolerant spuds like King Edwards adn the ones you mention...
The PFA's just need a good scrub, just like jackets would, but I used to chip mine, the are late maincrop and I've dug them up in November before
As said Shirl the Kestrels are waxy and make great roasties, chips, jackets, the works, they seem to dodge the slugs and they last, I've still got some left
I'm going to get some Rockets, Charlotte and Saxon at the weekend. :D
Well my Nicola decided they were earlies about November last year and started chitting everywhere. They spent winter on a windowsill and now are in pots and had their first taste of the big outdoors today...Hopefully a bit of fresh air will slow them down as I hadn't planned on growing potatoes in buckets or in the poly but may be I'll try one to see what I get by Easter.. These are meant to be early maincrop... ::)I have a lot of TPS from PFAs and 3 Salad blues which I thought looked interesting. I shall plant them up with a 'girlfriend PFA'each and try to save some seed. No blight resistance or anything useful but interesting colours and tastes I hope
BTW I harvested my good PFA crop before I went on holiday last year at the beginning of September and got a good crop. Not necessary to leave them too late and get blight etc with the autumn rains.
Quote from: tomatoada on February 13, 2012, 17:30:21
Quote from: antipodes on February 13, 2012, 16:22:53
Bought a 3kg bag of Belle de Fontenay earlies on special and also got 15 purple vitelottes from the supermarket! Well chuffed that they are starting to chit! They were non-treated chemically :) They cost me about 50p, lol, so if I get a few kilos out of them I will be well pleased, they will amuse the kids.
I am also going to order some online, probably some red Desiree, I always do well with those, and maybe a second early.
Belle de Fontenay are classed as a main crop by Kings seeds etc..
How odd, in France they are always an early - I grew some last year, they are quite nice, and good sized. If you harvest in June, they are small and sweet. If you leave them in a month longer they grow well and still taste good. Certainly not a main here, they have fine skins.
Now that I have the garden well established I shall grow a few less spuds, and a few more beans and peas, cucumbers, peppers etc. That's why I will only do a fair few earlies, and probably some Desiree and pop in those purple ones and see what they give me :) (PS I saw a bag of 10 plants of the purple vitelotte, they wanted 7 euros for them!!!! :o I bought 16 baby spuds for about 50 cents!!!
Interesting. Shall I grow mine as earlies or main? Perhaps try half and half.
Ive only ever grown Kestrel, a great all rounder and good taste. But reading these posts, I am tempted to try Setanta as well this year ;D
The semi finalists are 1st early - Swift, Pent, Jav', Rocket, Maris Bard, Winston. 2nd early - Marfona, Maris Peer, Kestrel, Wilja, Saxon, Nicola, Estima, Carlingford, Nadine. Main Crop - Stemster, Sante, Valor, Desiree, Romano, Cara, King Ed, Argos, Harmony, and Pent' Dell.
Checked 'em all out at
http://varieties.potato.org.uk/quick_search.php
all I have to do now is thin them down to a manageable number ! Only going to grow a couple of each and this year we WILL keep records! ::)
Cheers, Tony.
Went to Country Gardens and got my Kestrel and Pink Fir Apple today.
Most of my varieties are the same as last year - Homeguard, Rocket, Pentland Javelin, Harmony, Wilja, Cara, Desiree, King Edward, Exquisa, Juliette, Pink Fir Apple and Salad Blue. I also grow one that I call Franklin because my friend Franklin gave it to me and I don't know its real name.
New varieties for me this year will be Highland Burgundy Red and Maris Piper.
I'm ditching the Edzel Blue this year.
I'm also trying out true potato seed (Russian Blue and Blue Belle) thanks to generous people (aka Emma) here on Allotments 4 All. I like trying something new each year, but I shall be growing my potatoes on 4 plots this year. I don't want to grow them all in one place in case of disease.
i know why its not reconmended to save your own potato for growing the next year but people still do it with good results and have been for years one old lad on my last site had his for 30x years
I will be growing Maris Piper, Picasso, Red Duke of York and Sante this year. I got them from T & M but when they came I was very disappointed as some of them were so small and I only had 18 in one of the packs instead of 20. I rang up to complain and they sent me a second lot of all of them! I have some PFA left from last year to put in as well.
I really love red potatoes and although I have the red Duke of York, I would like to put in some other early reds, preferably salad ones. Any suggestions please?
Pauline, we are trying one called Vanessa this year an early red :)
Red Duke of York, delish flavour, Cara and PFA. Had an amazing crop of these last year and they are still storing well
I've got;
sarpo mira x 80
mayan twilight x 10
red duke of york x 10
duke of york x 10
pfa x 25
anya x 25
pentland javelin x 10
vanessa x 10
arron pilot x 10
pentland dell x 10
rooster x 10
harmony x 10
maris piper x 10
dunbar standard x 10
I have bought Pentland Javelin for the first earlies and Nadine for the main crop. Have never grown Pentland Javelin but Nadine is an old favourite which we like very much. busy_lizzie
I bought my potatoes today and have veered of the usual track. I am growing a few I have not grown before namely
Carlingford (earlies) Blue Belle (main crop) and Orla (maincrop).
The others I have grown before and they were very good, Desiree, Lady chrystl and Pink fir apple. Has anyone grown the above or have I made a big mistake?
I've gone for a mix of Rooster. Charlotte, Salad Blue, Highland Burgandy Red, Edgecote Purple, Shetland Black & Kestrel. 70 all up, I had a really disappointing potato harvest last year so hopefully this year will be better !
Quote from: manicscousers on February 19, 2012, 20:15:17
Pauline, we are trying one called Vanessa this year an early red :)
Thanks Manics, I will look out for them.
Well, I've still got a month to wait before I get our seed spuds, at Guildford Potato and Garden Fair, so I bought some Pentland Javelin when I was in Aldi the other day to have something chitting ::) ;D
Whenever I'm in Asda, I can't resist buying their Rudolph potatoes, so I'm really hoping to find some at the Fair. They're so delicious, I can't imagine that they could get better even if freshly dug, but I'd love to find out ;D
QuoteI can't resist buying their Rudolph potatoes
You can always save few that you've bought and plant those... ;)
Trying my best to be good, but if I can't find any as seed... ;)
I have planted the same most years, Desiree because they are delicious red spuds, Pentland Javelin because they are consistently good and Rocket, just because!!
But have just been to the Hulme Potato Sale and bought Linda (because that's me) and I am hoping they are good. I also bought these .... which are all new to me: Aura, Witchill, Rooster, Fortyfold, Anya and Isle of Jura.
Can't wait to try them out, just determined to label my produce this year instead of it being a guessing game (although that is fun too) Lin
Foremost
Red DOY
Charlotte
Kestrel
Sante
Cara
Desire
So far ;D
I met a man in the garden centre who said if you wait till late they sell them off really cheaply. Though you haven't chitted them many will be sprouting in the bags. Has anyone tried this? I am a right cheapskate!
Beware as some allotment groups will take a very dim view of you using ware potatoes as seed because of the danger of introducing virus problems by using uncertified seed.
Quote from: goodlife on February 25, 2012, 16:12:00
QuoteI can't resist buying their Rudolph potatoes
You can always save few that you've bought and plant those... ;)
Quote from: mrscarrot on February 28, 2012, 10:37:56
I met a man in the garden centre who said if you wait till late they sell them off really cheaply. Though you haven't chitted them many will be sprouting in the bags. Has anyone tried this? I am a right cheapskate!
Depends whether you want what is left or picked over, and how many times you want to drive/ go to the Garden Centre!
As long as they have not got long fragile shoots and are still healthy they should be ok.
Welocme to the forum -we love money saving tips on here!
As pumpkin says you'll only get the leftovers and not much choice at all, and they usually won't be stored in the correct conditions, but hey ho being a fellow tightwad I sort of know where your coming from. :D