Allotments 4 All

Hi all, I just wondered which potato varieties people prefer.
  I bought some Home guard at the weekend and some maris piper and king edward.
  I haven't grown spuds for a few years but we loved golden wonder but we didn't get a very big crop from them.
What are your thoughts on taste and crop size?

I've got:

Ulster Prince
Desiree
Kestrel
Duke of York
Pentland Crown

All for the first time - so I would be interested in any thoughts... I've heard Kestrel is excellent for slug resistence - which is always a factor in Manchester!

I know I like Maris Piper - they make good chips.  Why didn't I choose them?

Kestrel is arguably the best potato to grow on allotments, good all rounder, decent size, good yield, almost disease and slug free and stores very well. I do these year on year without fail. If you only have room for one variety then this is the one.

My Aaron pilot first earlies did well last year.

Desiree were huge and I lost next to none! They stored for 4months till I ran out.

Cara were a disaster. Supposedly blight resistant. Lost about 80%.

Pentland crown were near enough the same disaster as Cara.

Verity did well last year for my first time with them. Large spuds, but i will stick to Desiree as a main crop. May do verity again as a 2nd choice.

Would you compromise taste for yield?

No taste first... yield can come from a supermarket or farm shop sack!
Epicure for firsts, Red Dukes, Desiree, Eddies, Picasso, and smaller numbers of others...
PFA are excellent but... blight/frosts/slugs... late mains.

I did Cara in my first year - lost loads to the slugs, who thought they were very tasty!!

Quote from: gardening-gal on March 03, 2008, 20:22:25
Would you compromise taste for yield?

I agree with saddad, NO WAY.  Whats the point in growing loads of stuff you do not like...

im growing rocket 1st earlies Nadine 2nd earlies and valor maincrop + my free dt brown vale emerald

Kestrel and PFA    :P :P :P :P   ;D ;D ;D

Sorry its probably really obvious but what is PFA

pink fir apple

Yep really obvious  ;D LOL I like them aswell

rocket
pentland javelin
rooster
vales emerald..all earlies
kestrel 2nd earlies
desiree main

So have I picked the totally wrong variety then? Lol

No - grow what you & your soil like. It's the rest of us who are wrong!

(I love Home Guard, but Lady C is earlier. And KE is brilliant too, but doesn't suit my soil.)

Well it will be a bit of an experiment this year as we have just taken over the plot so will have to make a note of how well different things do.

I'm still eating last year's Desiree, no other maincrop I have tried stores so well for me, crops are huge and taste is great.

My fav earlies are Aaron Pilot, Mimi, Vanessa and Kestrel - the last two make the best chips ever!

After going to our local potato day and this being my first year growing anything I decided to get a few different varieties.
Picasso
Anya
Cara
arran victory
adzell blue
pink fir apple
duke of york
red duke of york
rooster
golden wonder
Nicola
Maxine
Maris piper
and some kind chap gave me one of his own salad blue

oh and of course the free vale emerald

and good or bad points anyone discovered with these?
Laura

If you want a good yielding nice tasting potato grow Charlottes, they're a good salad, develop well into a good second early, and can be left almost as a maincrop- I grow these both in the ground and in tubs.
I had a good crop of PFA last year but the wife hates peeling them. They also suffered badly from slug/wireworm damage but didn't get hit by blight when a lot of others did.
I grow Maris Piper for roasting and Maris Bard as my first early. Tyring Inernational Kidney, Estima, and Cara this year as I've got more space. I also got some Vales Emerald for my tubs, along with a few left over Anya, and some of last years PFA.

I've got:

Nicola Second Early
Wilja second Early

Peachbloom Main
Champion Late Main
Fortyfold Late Main

Will plant them out in the last week of March. A layer of horse manure at the bottom of the trench covered in a layer of wilted comfrey with the potato's on top, then I'll immediately earth up into ridges above the tubers.

Old varieties have a much stronger taste, not the blandness people seem to crave nowadays (think cheap lager versus real ale). I also much prefer a floury potato.

I was listening to 'The Potting Shed' today on the radio and apparently the further south you go in the UK the more people prefer waxy potato's whereas up north we prefer floury. Strange huh!