Allotments 4 All

So far, the best spud harvest for me has been charlotte.  Dug up 3 plants today, and filled a bucket!  (Will take some pics later)  Great size, plenty of clean, undamaged oval spuds.  Very happy as it seems they have done well without extra water.  Will grow Charlottes again for certain!

My Charlottes last year were pretty good too. This Year I have international kidney, only getting a few tubers per plant. They are a good flavour though, so may try them again.

We found the same with international kidney.
So far the best croppers have been anya and yukon gold.

Same here with international kidney, I am not bothering again!
Anyas are brilliant! And the Lady Crystls were superb!

Charlotte - yes - but I got Nicola instead!

Just dug up another Ulster Prince for tea.  It tastes very earthy and breaks up in even a small amount of water.  I quite like the earthy taste and it was even better with a tad of salt on.  Perhaps it's a baker ?

Old hat but, to minimise breaking up after a drought, bring slowly to the simmer from cold??

tim, i have grown both, and must say i far prefer nicola to charlotte. compare the two: nicola tastes yummy and very potato-ey, whereas in comparison charlotte tastes of flour ???

given the choice, i am dropping charlotte and trying something else instaed next year - but the nicola is a keeper! :)

ooo, will add Nicola to the list for next year then.  Anya has been great for us, and I still have half a row to dig!  Still have Rocket, Rooster, Sante, Pink fur, anya, charlotte and king edwards growing......not including the flipping volunteers that seem to have come up all over the place!

My earlies are Home guard and we got about 12 lb from 1 row - quite pleased with that as I've not done spuds before. They're very tasty - nice and waxy - good size too.
Still got 2 more rows in the ground and then 3 rows each of
maris peer (2nds) & desiree as mains.
So we won't be short of spuds i don't think!! ;D

Very pleased with Toms this year, much better than last. Have been eating Greenhouse Sweet Olives for the past month, and am starting to eat a few outdoor ones - so that's great.
But my courgettes are a bit (very) SLOW - only getting them in dribs ' n drabs - still waiting for the glut ::).
Beans too have been not good , but are finally starting to climb & a few flowers coming.
So a very varied year so far, but I see that we're forecast some  blessed RAIN this weekend. Let's hope it really chucks it down ( well at night at least)

EJ, i think (but not sure) that nicola are second earlies - also the yield is slightly smaller than from the charlottes
having said which, one plant yields enough for four people for one meal.
PS: i  think nicola keep better flavour when cooked because they dont take on water/dont fall apart. that is how i prefer my pots so it suits me fine :)

looking for recommendations for earlies to replace charlotte.
also have desiree in the ground and pulled one up by accident - nice but am i allowed to say 'a bit boring'? think i want to concentrate on just the early varieties and leave the maincrop be.......

EJ you say about lots of volunteers over your allotment - I dug mine all up having been told that they encourage scab etc and sholdn't be left to develop.  Is that not true or are you just having trouble keeping up with them!!

It is true Icy, I should have dug them out, but they came up smack bang in the middle of seed beds, or rows of lettuce, or amongst my globe artichokes.  I did dig out the ones I could, but I have had to chance it with the others or loose other things.

This is my first year but my spud crop has been superb! Charlotte are yielding about 3lb per plant and my Rattes are yielding about 2lb per plant. Anya yield in between. All tasting fabulous  ;D
My courgettes have produced about 30 fruits per plant and still coming on strong. Patty Pans are covered in small fruits and flowers. Winter Squash is taking over like some demented Triffid on steroids ;D  Sorry can't stop smiling because 2 days of steady rain has made the whole allotment greener than ever before. great for my tomato crop. :)

Quote from: tim on July 22, 2005, 19:45:20
Old hat but, to minimise breaking up after a drought, bring slowly to the simmer from cold??

I steam them. Not much good if you salt your spud water, but stops them falling.

I have grown International Kidney before and they are beggars once they are 'full term' as it were - fall at the drop of a hat. And yes, cropping is patchy. This year I grew Royal Kidney instead (HDRA didn't have any IK at their potato day) and they've been great. I've had 7-8 tubers per plant (considering they are supposed to be picked small, some of them have been weeny!) but I tried them on Dad last week and got a positive verdict. Four plants did three potato pigs two meals! :)

They are nearly all gone now (sob!) but the rattes (early maincrop) are starting to die back so I shall have some waxy salad spuds in a week or so!

Meanwhile the Kestrels have done fantastically (even if I do keep accidentally stabbing them with the fork as they're so big) and have still to dig the majority of the Red Dukes and Estimas.

moonbells

It's a saying near me that if someone is hungry they say "I could eat two more taters than a pig"   :)

I seem to have had a good crp of Anya too but as it's my first year, I don't know whether my haul is good, bad or average. Have noticed that some have gone bad after only a week in storage (in the garage in a hessian sack). Did leave them out in the sun for a few hours to harden off first.

i thought earlies aren't keepers? i.e. pull them out and eat them straight away.

Our earlies keep until January/February which is why we don't usually bother with a main crop. The second earlies last till the new crop of earlies in the tunnel begin. Only difference is that they have to be peeled rather than scraped.

I've been really impressed by my Charlottes too. I've only harvested the ones from the bags where the plant has withered away (too hot I reckon!) Each one has provided enough for a meal for the two of us. Haven't harvested the ones out of the ground yet.

Lady Christl taste delicious, yield a bit less than the charlottes, but amazingly after I picked a few of a plant and recovered it to see if the tiny spuds would grow to anythign - a few weeks later and they were good eating size!

Red Duke of York - great taste (and I like the colour!) ok yield (must find my remaining bag before they turn into bakers).

Anyas (in the ground) - plants munched by slugs. Got swamped by other spud plants and withered, so I harvested them. two plants didn't even give enough spuds for one meal. Didn't taste nearly as good as the Lady Christls I used to bulk up dinner.