[mumofstig]

So why not now 

Which varieties did you grow and how did they perform and taste?

I'll start - I grew,
Spunta, waxy with a lovely taste but not a huge yield compared to..

Pentland Javelin, left until I'd eaten the Spunta so had a chance for the tubers to grow bigger, some big enough for jackets. Good taste and a good yield

Will deffo grow PJs again, they are pretty reliable on my soil. I'm not sure about Spunta, maybe a few in tubs if I can get a small pack of seeds somewhere.

[New shoot]

What a good idea 

I've still got maincrops to dig and both varieties are new to me, so I may change my mind, but Kestrel this year has performed brilliantly again.  I've just dug the last few roots and got a bag of baking size spuds.  We've been eating these as second earlies, right through to now so a few short rows have fed us for weeks 

[jaydig]

I still keep returning to Lady Cristl for an early that also grows to a decent size if left for a while.  Lovely flavour and easy to scrape/peel shape.  This year I tried a new red maincrop potato Manitou to compare with the Desiree that I usually grow.  Manitou was far superior both in taste and quantity of tubers per seed. 
As an 'insurance' crop I planted Sarpo Kifli, which I haven't lifted yet, so the jury's still out on that one.

[AnneB]

It was a good year for potatoes here, which is just as well as I went a bit mad on the seed front.  I missed our potato day due to a holiday so ordered by post, and bought Sharpe's Express, British Queen, Casablanca and Pink Fir Apple.

Then back from holiday the potato day organiser contacted me and said they had some left over, so I added Kestrel and Ambo to the list!

All have been very good yield wise and plant health wise.  I grew the Casablanca in bags due to space issues. The maincrop Ambo and Pink Fir Apple seemed to mature very early for some reason, the plus being that blight was avoided.  Little in the way of slug problem either.

Ambo is fantastic as a jacket potato and British Queens as a roast.  Love the flavour of both Sharpe's Express and Pink Fir Apple as a salad spud.  Casablanca and Kestrel are both very good all round potatoes.

[JayG]

No room for anything other than earlies here - over the years I've grown Rocket, Charlotte, Pentland Javelin and, most often, Lady Christl, mainly because they offer good resistance to at least one type of potato eelworm (PCN.)

LC again this year, and they've cropped better than ever and I'm still digging them up now (started the last day of June.)

As you can see from the attached pic taken this afternoon, they're mostly not salad potato size any more, but still taste good and don't readily break up on boiling. Can't tell you whether they were produced by one plant or more (or less) because I plant them fairly close together in a zig-zag pattern so it's hard to tell. Only the odd one has had a slug hole, and no other problems or defects to worry about.

[DD.]

I've cut back a little on my potato production this year, but it was interesting to compare the first earlies, Lady Christ and Casablanca. I grew a half row (they are big rows) of each, in the same row.

The Casablanca fell apart very easily, even when steamed, whilst the good old LC's kept their integrity. I'm only growing one first early next year!

[mumofstig]

I wonder which it will be 

 

[Growster...]

We were going to give up on Pentland Javelin, but decided to give them one last chance...

Fabulous crop, and will probs last us until the New Year!

Annabelle were nice but far too few, and although there was a trio of bags in the GH providing a few feeds, I'm not that sure if they're worth another bash.

It's the sort of decision you make in January really; do you, or don't you!

[AnneB]

I've cut back a little on my potato production this year, but it was interesting to compare the first earlies, Lady Christ and Casablanca. I grew a half row (they are big rows) of each, in the same row.

The Casablanca fell apart very easily, even when steamed, whilst the good old LC's kept their integrity. I'm only growing one first early next year!

That's interesting DD.  I didn't have a problem with Casablancas disintegrating when steamed.  They did get surprisingly big for a first early though and I haven't used them as a boiled spud that much, more for jackets, roasts, using my Sharpe's Express and Pink Fir Apple for boiled and salad potatoes.  They were excellent as a saute potato.

[greenjay]

over the years have grown lots of varieties with different success.
always come back to charlotte.
the only crop I grew this year.
 lovely early or to store.
blight is the only issues

[snowdrops]

Non of mine have given an enormous crop this year with some I even wondered if I'd find any, even after we finally had rain.
Swift, poor
Lady Christyl, not bad, good flavour,
Winston, so-so
Wilja, poor crop
Charlotte, some good sized potato as it was my last early to dig, but still not plentiful
Picasso, again not massive yield
Ambo still to dig
Pink fir Apple, still to dig(at my daughters- she says she's not having any again as the tops were mahoosive) 😄 I tricked her into having them

[mumofstig]

I've just found a flower bucket labelled Pentland Javelin, tucked behind the greenhouse and forgotten about  I only went there to see if the woodpile was still dry for the hedgehogs 

It had 1 big potato and 3 medium sized ones from the one planted, so chuffed to find it 

[jaydig]

Does anyone remember 'Surprise' peas? Well, this year I had what I call my 'Surprise' potato.  I have two Dalek type compost bins outside my greenhouse, into which goes all kitchen veg waste and what I clean out of the chicken house.  I noticed a potato plant developing and assume it must have grown from a piece of peel in the composter.  The plant grew, and grew and grew.  I have never seen such a huge potato plant.  The foliage draped itself over the wall next to it, and then travelled over the path at the side of the house.  Eventually I thought I'd check to see if it had produced any spuds, or if it was all top growth.  I first unearthed about a handful of potatoes, not much bigger than good sized pebbles, and I thought that was it, but then I spied what looked like the round end of a proper spud.  Half an hour later I had dug up enough absolutely huge potatoes to fill two large washing up bowls, all from one root. They were red in colour, so I can only guess that they would have originated from some Desiree peal from the previous year.  The plant obviously thrived on a diet of almost pure compost and manure. I can only wish I got crops like this on my allotment.

[victoria park]

Two experiments in husbandry this year that went really well.

I used the poundland organic potato fertiliser this year on half of the main crop varieties. Well, well worth it. The fertilised tubers were absolutely fantastic.

The other experiment was Jersey Royals planted with a fair old bit of seaweed. I must say they were just about as tasty as the real thing. Very pleased and will be first on the list next year.

Desirees and King Edward both excellent crops, but for some reason the edwards have started to sprout now, while the desirees are still fine. Charlottes as wonderful as ever, with less of the breaking apart.

[rowlandwells]

 I thing I've said this before when talking about growing potatoes I always use a good quality fertilizer not an organic one  its a fertilizer used by farmers low nitrogen brand

it grows really good crops of spuds we had a bumper crop this year of desiree  the only downside was slug damage    charlotte where good as was pink fir apple a really good size

our ground seems to grow pretty heavy spuds we grew cara and Picasso last year as an experiment both turned out good no slug damage kept well into  the winter lasted us till June so cara has already been ordered for next season as our main crop

going to enter our potatoes in the local horti show next year fingers crossed my fellow gardeners always say I'm making myself to much work growing half acre of spuds as its cheaper to buy potatoes  from our local farm
but I think our allotment would be an allotment without our potato harvest