Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: mumofstig on January 04, 2020, 10:29
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Tell us your choices and perhaps, remember to post your reviews later in the year ;)
I'll start..
I've ordered a kilo each of..
Lady Christl early
Pentland Javelin early, but I leave in to harvest later for jackets.
Spunta 2nds
Inca Belles maincrop, these are new to me so it will be interesting to see how they perform.
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Planting fewer tubers this year and based on my trials from 2019
2nd earlies: Anya and Charlotte
Mains: Kifli, Carolus, Ambo and Blue Danube
I will probably also throw a few 1st earlies into pots in the greenhouse and if I visit the WYOG potato day I will get a few tubers of varieties I've not grown before to try.
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I have been a bit unadventurous and ordered the same as last year :)
1kg Lady Christl: First early
2kg Jazzy: Second early but if left they effectively turn into maincrop salad potatoes
1kg Setanta: Maincrop which I am still eating from last harvest (They are amazing roasted for Christmas and I would be shot if I didn't grow them)
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It'll be my regular 1kg of Charlotte ::)
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we have decided to grow Kestrel second earlies this year because of our slug problems last year on the advise of some of our members already ordered for delivery February
our first earlies possibly be arran pilot or international kidney undecided? will also be growing pink fir apple and charlotte also looking at growing another variety new to us looking at kingsman or setanta ?
our local garden centre will be having there seed potatoes in very shortly and they have quite a good selection of seed potatoes and you can pick your own seed and quantity you require
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I'll pick up whatever Wilko's get in stock ;)
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Picked up 2kg of Rooster yesterday and will be getting Charlotte as usual.
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Every year about this time I pledge that I will only grow two varieties of potato, Aron Pilot and Kestrel, however every year I am seduced by other varieties and end up planting loads more.
So I am putting it in writing this year for all to see.
Not sure if this will work though!
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My lot will want King Edwards and Pink Fir Apple no matter what.
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Early - 1kg Charlotte (Salad)
Early - 1kh Duke of York (All rounder)
Maincrop - 1kg Vales Sovereign (all-rounder... meant to yield good bakers)
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Same as every year for me, it aint broke so not fixing it!
Charlotte & Desiree
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Nicola and Red Duke of York didnt do well last year, however the Pink Firapple and King Edwards were awesome and kestrels were good too so I'll go with those 3 this year. I still have King Edwards in the ground now, no scabs or slug damage at all!
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I dont know what variety I did last year. the seed potato were a gift from a plot neighbor. This year i have just ordered Red Duke of York, Sarpo Mira and more sarpo Mira (second lot of Sarpo Mira were ordered by accident)
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Mine this year are a mix of what I have tried and liked and what my plot neighbours have tried and liked (and offered me a few to taste).
I've got Jazzy as a 2nd early - grew these last year and was very impressed. They can be harvested as new potatoes or left to bulk up, suffered almost zero slug damage and were hugely productive and very tasty. I have some in store that are just sprouting, so these are getting used up fast now. Not bad for a 2nd early to keep going this long though.
Sarpo Una - this is an interesting one I got given last year by a plot neighbour. You can grow is as a new potato and I am going to try a few in buckets in the greenhouse for extra early potatoes. My plot neighbour did this at home with great success. The ones in the plot can then be lifted as salad potatoes, or if you leave them they turn into floury baking spuds. I liked both versions I tasted :)
Blue Danube main crop - another of the Sarpo family and it has a blue skin, but is white inside. I was given some of these last year and told they made the best roasties ever. After trying them I had to agree - crispy outside, fluffy inside and great flavour 8) Even OH noticed and said they were especially good.
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Blue Danube main crop - another of the Sarpo family and it has a blue skin, but is white inside. I was given some of these last year and told they made the best roasties ever. After trying them I had to agree - crispy outside, fluffy inside and great flavour 8) Even OH noticed and said they were especially good.
Has anyone grown both Blue Danube and Setanta? I always thought that Setanta the best roasties ever. If Blue Danube are even better....
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We have gone for:
Rocket and Swift - firsts
Kestral - seconds
Sentanta - mains
I decided not to grow pink fir apple this year as we had to throw a load away previously and I can only fit so many in, which is a lesson learnt! I have guilty been of cramming them in here there and everywhere around the garden as they wouldn't fit in the beds!
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This year I am growing:
First Early
-Epicure (grown last year, thought they had a lovely earthy taste, if a bit of a funny knobbly appearance!)
-Lady Christl
-International Kidney
Second Early
-Kestrel (a favourite of ours for flavour and texture)
-Anya
-Jazzy
Early Main
-Picasso (makes lovely jacket spuds)
-Ambo (also successful last year)
-Apache
Maincrop (these varieties are all new to me!)
-Arran Victory
-Manitou
-Mayan Gold
Having a local potato day means I get to try lots of different varieties :D
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The Wilko's tombola spun and gave me.... Cara!
A bag of 5 for £1, I'll split them between my three containers for a nice few potato salads in the theoretical Summer.
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Tried Rudolph last year and my 10 year old says we have to grow them again. Pink skin and the whitest flesh you can imagine. Perfect boiled. Other than that, some Charlotte, probably Kestrel and he liked International Kidney too last year. Quite opinionated on his potato varieties is my boy!
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I am waiting to see what varieties our potato day has on offer this year before making a final decision but I plan to include
Jazzy
Kestrel
Ambo
No doubt I will get carried away and get a few more!
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Same as every year for me, it aint broke so not fixing it!
Charlotte & Desiree
Same here , picked up two 2kg bags of Charlotte , the garden centre didn't have Desiree in large bags , will source elsewhere.
Reasonable yields in growing bags last year so will doing the same .
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We only grow a few spuds as they aren't a main eating staple so by the KG is not for us.
Went into the garden centre today and the spuds had just appeared. The kids like Pink Fir Apple and King Edwards - they ask for first earlies so have picked up some Lady Christl to try.
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We're going to grow International Kidney, Pink Fir Apple (the yield was fantastic last year) and Pentland Javelin.
We grew the first two in containers last year but we have an allotment now.
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White ones and purple ones. We've decided to chit on the potatoes that went all Marine and hid from the fork in the new plot as they won't have whatever poison is in our original plot. Our plot kicks out purple ones which we may give a go of which could be Highland Burgundy or Desiree. Their darker than anything we planted.
We won't know how much space we'll have once everything is planted and given our inability to grow potatoes, we've spent a load on fruit plants, tools, plant food and we got a new plot to turn over so time is pressed.
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I have
pentland javlin
sarpo mira
rooster
desiree
1kg of each type have not grown any of these types before hope they will do well :unsure:
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These are the ones that grow for me.
Dunluce earlies
Sante maincrop
Rooster rosties
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I've gone for early International Kidney (may be tempted to do a few Rocket)
Main Desiree - had a great crop last year so my thinking is not change what works
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Gone back to Lady Chrystl as I have not found anything as good and a new variety "Maxine" for main crop. Choice is getting more and more every year, My local nursery "Clockhouse" has @80 varieties.
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I have gone for pentlandite javelin,rocket,and kestrel
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We accidentally slipped and fell into Dundry Nurseries Potato Day this weekend so we can add Linda (maincrop), Mayan Rose (maincrop) and Shetland Black (earlies).
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I told myself I would not do any potatoes this year as we had too many last year and we could try something else this year, however the a Trip to Wilko led me to purchase some Charlotte and Sharpes Express, and I thought I better order Vivaldi which my better half insists on, at which point I added in some Sarpo Mira and Pink Fir - only tried the Sarpo and Charlotte before (last year) which did well for me (only 2nd year) - my first year spuds were not liked by anyone in the family so here's hoping. I have a bit of space still to clear to will use these as an opportunity to make myself do it and have then pretty much cleared my plot!
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Wilco's today and came away with four bags of Desiree , £2.50 each . Managed to resist buying other varieties!!
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just had to try one more potato variety honest went to a garden centre today looking at the seed potatoes as you do even when you've bought your quota days before I just couldn't resist buying 2KG of Jazzy to try
now I haven't bought this variety before but I thought well give um a go and ask if any of our fellow gardeners have been growing Jazzy and how do you rate them the seed cost a little more than other varieties but if they produce well its worth the extra well that's what I told the wife :nowink:
and feed back on Jazzy will be much appreciated
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I tried Jazzy the year before last, and wouldn't grow them again. Here they just made loads of teeny tiny tubers that really weren't worth the effort of digging up, or the fertiliser I gave them. I'm still finding volunteers in that bed.
As everybody's soil is different, I wish you luck :)
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just had to try one more potato variety honest went to a garden centre today looking at the seed potatoes as you do even when you've bought your quota days before I just couldn't resist buying 2KG of Jazzy to try
now I haven't bought this variety before but I thought well give um a go and ask if any of our fellow gardeners have been growing Jazzy and how do you rate them the seed cost a little more than other varieties but if they produce well its worth the extra well that's what I told the wife :nowink:
and feed back on Jazzy will be much appreciated
I grew Jazzy last year in 30L pots/MPC. Yield (appearance and taste) were very similar to Charlotte - 1220g/tuber Jazzy, 1235g Charlotte.
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thanks for you replies fingers crossed A"
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just had to try one more potato variety honest went to a garden centre today looking at the seed potatoes as you do even when you've bought your quota days before I just couldn't resist buying 2KG of Jazzy to try
now I haven't bought this variety before but I thought well give um a go and ask if any of our fellow gardeners have been growing Jazzy and how do you rate them the seed cost a little more than other varieties but if they produce well its worth the extra well that's what I told the wife :nowink:
and feed back on Jazzy will be much appreciated
I have grown Jazzy for the last 2 years and unlike MoS they have been very successful for me on a much improved but clay based soil. Yields have been superb, they don't fall apart on cooking, taste great and keep well. We had some last night with dinner, just starting to go over now.
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I'm growing on much the same type of soil as AnneB and had similar results with Jazzy last year.
There were loads of them and I was lifting them as 2nd earlies right through to the end of the season, when they were more mature. I had a sackful to store in the shed come autumn and we just have the last few to eat now. They are starting to sprout, whereas the true main crop spuds are still holding tight.
I've bought some more to grow this year :)
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Why are Red Rooster so hard to find?
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I am currently chitting my faithful staples;
Charlotte, International Kidney
Red Duke of York
Mozart, Desiree, Sarpo Mira.
Last year in bags I tried Pink Fir Apple. These are the fingered type and was very impressed with how many I got in the bags.
The bags were filled nicely, I did not actually weigh them in one go as I just reached down a few times a week, every week from mid July to late October and pulled up a good 20-30 each time.
I used them steamed with a good clean, so did not peel them.
They were delicious.
I am growing them again this year too. I put five seed potatoes of them in my normal growing bags.
I have chosen a new variety this year, Blue Danube, that I have often heard people mention as another good maincrop.
I did try a number of other varieties last year that I will not grow again.
Just trialled one bag of each.
Bambino cropped well, but the potatoes were all fairly small and only good enough for boiling with an average taste.
Caeser was a fair cropping maincrop, but they were very mixed in size, tasted good.
Bonnie was an all very regular sized potato and they cropped well. For me they would only be a replacement for my Red Duke of York as like them they matured early. I prefer Duke of York taste wise.
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.....I thought I better order Vivaldi which my better half insists on......
Where are you getting Vivaldi? They make the best mash.
I bought my usual Pink Fir Apple (I prefer Anya, but there were none to be had), International Kidney and Maris Piper. I’ll add Vivaldi if I can get them and will take the girlchild to fill a bag if she wants to go. She’ll probably choose something blue, and Charlotte. Making the entire plot potatoes, at this rate! How do people grow so many varieties and have any space left!?
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Vivaldi
https://www.kingsseeds.com/Products/Vegetables/Potatoes/Potatoes-Vivaldi-Second-Early-2kg
Sainbury are selling bags of them for cooking, if you are planting in containers - I wouldn't chance them in the soil though.
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/Christmas-vegetables/sainsburys-vivaldi-white-potatoes--taste-the-difference-2kg
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Thank you. What are the issues with planting them in the ground? I never have much success with growing spuds in containers.
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Ware potatoes (ones grown for food) aren't checked for virus/disease in the same way that the seed potatoes are. Theoretically you could be introducing something nasty to your plot soil if you plant them.
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Ah, I see. I wonder how they check for viruses, and whether they could screen my daughter on her way home from school? I must see if I can nab a couple of my big containers back and give it another go.
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.....I thought I better order Vivaldi which my better half insists on......
Where are you getting Vivaldi? They make the best mash.
I got mine from DT Brown https://www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk/Potatoes-1/Second-Early-Seed-Potatoes-DTB/Potato-Vivaldi-Second-Early-Seed-Potato.html (https://www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk/Potatoes-1/Second-Early-Seed-Potatoes-DTB/Potato-Vivaldi-Second-Early-Seed-Potato.html) - I think the link to Kingseeds above gets you more for slightly less (not cross checked delivery).
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Sharpe's Express
Charlottes
Ambo
Sarpo Kifli