[Fairy Plotmother]

Last year I bought my seed potatoes loose at Wyevale(am I allowed to mention the name?) as the Plotfather and I eat very few. We store them under shelving in the garage, off the floor. Seems to work.

[Salmo]

A kilo of seed potatoes usually contains between 25 and 30 tubers. At 80p a kilo it does not matter if you do not plant all of them. What you have left you can give away.

In yor situation I would grow 10/15 earlies and perhaps a few more seconds. My choice for seconds would be Charlotte which are good for small salad potatoes to eat in their skins but also cook in other ways.

If you want a salad variety go for either Harlequin or Anya rather than Pink Fir Apple. Harlequin is charlotte X PFA and Anya is Desiree x PFA. Both have the PFA taste but not the knobbleness.

[mumofstig]

Charlottes were absolutely terrible here this year, Salmo  I lost most of them to Blackleg!

So I'm thinking of trying something else next year

[diospyros]

In the past I have been to Potato Day at Ryton Gardens which was great fun - big table with lots of bags of spuds all sold per tuber and a guidebook so you could find out about the ones you liked the look of!  There are other events like this.  I think at Ryton it was in Feb.

[MrsLev]

Right I think I'm going to do for a kg of Lady Christl based on them getting good reviews on here and a kg of PFA because I know I like them! I'm sure we'll eat them if they're there! I'm so indecisive about most things, commiting to this is a big deal for me!

[Yorkie]

On that list, the only ones I'd avoid are the Sarpo Mira and the International Kidney.

[Salmo]

Right I think I'm going to do for a kg of Lady Christl based on them getting good reviews on here and a kg of PFA because I know I like them! I'm sure we'll eat them if they're there! I'm so indecisive about most things, commiting to this is a big deal for me!

Although PFA taste good they are very late maturing and prone to blight. The newer varieties which are crossed with PFA, Harlequin and Anya retain the taste but are in my opinion better to grow.

[Willow_Warren]

Charlottes were absolutely terrible here this year, Salmo  I lost most of them to Blackleg!

So I'm thinking of trying something else next year

My charlottes weren't very good this year - last year they were amazing...  so what to do next year... 

There's so many choices - and a lot of it is trial and error as to what you like...

H

[MrsLev]

Right I think I'm going to do for a kg of Lady Christl based on them getting good reviews on here and a kg of PFA because I know I like them! I'm sure we'll eat them if they're there! I'm so indecisive about most things, commiting to this is a big deal for me!

Although PFA taste good they are very late maturing and prone to blight. The newer varieties which are crossed with PFA, Harlequin and Anya retain the taste but are in my opinion better to grow.

Mmm... They're not on the list though! I might just go for one lot of earlies this year until I know what I'm doing!

[Kristen]

Although PFA taste good they are very late maturing

We start lifting PFA at the same as our Second Earlies.  It always surprises me, given that PFA is a maincrop, how much we get at that stage.  This is probably not helpful to anyone wanting maximum yield, but for folk wanting PFA then it has certainly worked for us.

The newer varieties which are crossed with PFA, Harlequin and Anya retain the taste but are in my opinion better to grow.

Its subjective.  We've grown Anya and didn't like it (compared to PFA).  We also like the nobbly-ness of PFA, but there will be people who find it annoying (to peel, etc. - we just rinse ours)

[Kristen]

My charlottes weren't very good this year - last year they were amazing...  so what to do next year...

If you particularly like the flavour I would recommend growing them again.  We had a very dry period in early Summer, when I should have watered my spuds but didn't ... over a number of seasons, with the experience it brings, you will probably arrive at a formula that works well more often then not.

[MrsLev]

Ok so back to PFA and Lady Christl! If they all go wrong it's ok I'll get over it!

[Kristen]

Ok so back to PFA and Lady Christl!

Only if you are sure?     

[trunk monkey]

I only grow first/second earlies so that they can be lifted if the dreaded blight strikes. This year I have grown a relatively new variety "Casablanca" and I am well impressed; good yields and flavour. The blight held off this year so I left several rows in until September these produced large tubers that have proved to make good Jacket potatoes. It remains to see how well they store.
Trunkie

[diospyros]

My most successful variety was Ratte because it won me a prize in the "most unusual shaped vegetable" class.  My famous poo-shaped potato!