Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Daisygirl on August 02, 2012, 18:11
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Hello everyone my first earlies are falling to bits when boiled >:(
Monty Don did a test on all of his first earlies on Friday and he said all but one of his fell to bits also and that this was due to too much rain; however last year when we hardly had any rain my potatoes were still the same!
Can anyone recommend first earlies and main crop that dont do this please?
Many thanks
Daisy
:)
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What variety did you grow? Are you over watering them?
I find Lady Christl for a first early and Ambo for a maincrop both very well behaved under cooking.
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Try steaming them, they seem to hold their shape when i do this. I now grow Lady Christi, Charlotte and maris Piper. The only time i had to steam was last year with the Charlotte's.
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Sharpes Express, Lady Christ and main crop Sarpo Mira which Ive not tried yet.
We didnt water them once they were in as we had soooooooooooooooooo much rain that we didnt need to.
Daisy
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I have had Charlottes and "something" emerald the charlottes were the better out of the 2 but I think sometimes you only have to leave them a few minutes longer than needed and they dry and crumble still taste good though :)
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I find that if they have had a lot of water, they take much less time to cook, and cut down the length of time in the pan
I have Lady Cristl, Rocket and Vanessa this year - Rocket cooks the fastest by some way
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I find those spuds dug and cooked the same day are more likely to fall apart when cooked. The longer they are out the ground the longer (but only by a minute or two) they take to cook without falling apart.
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My Lady C's and Charlottes cook perfectly :D
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I've only grown one lot of 1st earlies this year Rocket and there absolutely suberb cook perfectly and taste probably the best ever are you sure your not over cooking them?
I'm not sure if it's the wet weather but my only other spuds Charlottes are great too (although the nettles grew higher)
Monty Don seems to have a problem with first earlies sure it was Duke of york last year perhaps he should stick to growing flowers lol
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I have rocket and they are cooking just fine taste good and not a bad yield so far.
I have 2rows of main crop but for the like of me I can't remember the name of them they were bought through the allotment association as one of the most popular brands .
John
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We didnt water them once they were in as we had soooooooooooooooooo much rain that we didnt need to.
Daisy
I asked about watering, as you said they did the same last year when it didn't rain constantly.
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I grew Foremost both last and this year as Earlies and King Ed's, Kerr's Pinks and Majestic as main. All cook perfectly. My wife doesn't scrape them at this time - just scrubs them with a veg brush and then either steams or boils them - lovely!
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Grew Charlottes and Vivaldi and we just scrape the skin and boil them gently, but not as long as, say, main crops. Test with a little knife or fork after about 10 mins and see.