[BabbyAnn]

Disiree is a nice spud, not my favourite but this year one of my excursions into the unknown will be to try a Disiree crossed with a Pink Fir Apple that was produced for the Sainsbury family and named after Lady Sainsbury called Anya. If it produces the best qualities of both the parent spuds then it should be a cracker.

  Anya is a lovely potato which I think you will not be disappointed with, but it didn't inherit its size from its parents and is a bit on the small side in comparison

[Aunt Sally]

Well, you must try Picasso this year 4S,  one of my "flavourites"

Shame you have such a "blighted" view of other people spud choices 

[4 Seasons]

Well, you must try Picasso this year 4S,  one of my "flavourites"

Shame you have such a "blighted" view of other people spud choices 

Tried Picasso a few years ago and found the taste a bit too abstract expressionist.

I did grow it in a poor year for spuds though so perhaps it needs trying again. This is the thing with potatoes you can grow a poor crop one year and the variety gets condemned to your reject list forever.
Perhaps spuds need at least two years to judge them.

[4 Seasons]

Disiree is a nice spud, not my favourite but this year one of my excursions into the unknown will be to try a Disiree crossed with a Pink Fir Apple that was produced for the Sainsbury family and named after Lady Sainsbury called Anya. If it produces the best qualities of both the parent spuds then it should be a cracker.

  Anya is a lovely potato which I think you will not be disappointed with, but it didn't inherit its size from its parents and is a bit on the small side in comparison

I find Pink Fir Apple to be a decent size even if they are a bit like Jerusalem Artichokes.
Again, Anya is a variety that has been recommended on forums and by friends but I've never seen them for sale in the shops I frequent so I've had to buy them early from suppliers in order to get some at all.

[RJR_38]

I grew Anya last year as I like them in the shops - but I found the overall yield to be quite low in comparison to my other spuds. Last year was my first year though. Have decided to just purchase them to eat this year when I want them as a treat and focus my growing  on other varieties that store better

[BabbyAnn]

I grew Anya last year as I like them in the shops - but I found the overall yield to be quite low in comparison to my other spuds

I found Anya to have excellent yields, but as an early main crop I could agree that they don't store as well as a late main crop.

[Aunt Sally]

Tried Picasso a few years ago and found the taste a bit too abstract expressionist.

I did grow it in a poor year for spuds though so perhaps it needs trying again. This is the thing with potatoes you can grow a poor crop one year and the variety gets condemned to your reject list forever.
Perhaps spuds need at least two years to judge them.

Then it's your growing conditions and methods that are at fault, 4S.  Picasso is one of the best flavoured potatoes I've grown - it rivals Charlotte in my estimation, it's a rich and creamy, floury potatoe and as a jacked potato it's to kill for.

Potatoes are a very hungry and thirsty crop and need lots of food but if they have too much water towards the end of their growth time the flavour will be "diluted".

With good growing methods I don't ever have a "poor year" for spuds.

[Willow_Warren]

The last few years me and my dad have clubbed together to buy potatoes and split them between us.

I however always get much better yeilds! 

I'm not sure it's anything to do with my excellant husbandry skills    but we do live about 70 miles apart, the soil will also be very different.  I also get more sunshine in my garden 

I shoudn't boast as I'm moving and won't be growing potaoes there again...

Hannah

[4 Seasons]

Tried Picasso a few years ago and found the taste a bit too abstract expressionist.

I did grow it in a poor year for spuds though so perhaps it needs trying again. This is the thing with potatoes you can grow a poor crop one year and the variety gets condemned to your reject list forever.
Perhaps spuds need at least two years to judge them.

Then it's your growing conditions and methods that are at fault, 4S.  Picasso is one of the best flavoured potatoes I've grown - it rivals Charlotte in my estimation, it's a rich and creamy, floury potatoe and as a jacked potato it's to kill for.

Potatoes are a very hungry and thirsty crop and need lots of food but if they have too much water towards the end of their growth time the flavour will be "diluted".

With good growing methods I don't ever have a "poor year" for spuds.

I see you are growing in the garden of England, lucky you.

The year I refer to was a drought year and I didn't have a user friendly watering system so the spuds came out small and sort of 'woody' if you get what I mean. If I remember they also had sunken eyes which made peeling wasteful and  a bit of a pain. But on your recommendation I might give them another go next year. Too late this year as I'm over-seeded as it is and will have to give some away.
I've since cracked the lack of water problem in dry years by growing under black plastic directly into 6" of manure. The water is supplied by irrigation pipes under the plastic and uses up a fraction of what I used to use before. This method out-performs the old traditional way I used to grow by continually mounding up in ridges where a lot of the water ran off into the gullies. Couldn't go back to that wasteful method now, it's hard work and problematic. With growing under plastic the surface of your soil is always flat which makes it easy to put frost protection over them at the start and then force them on early with clear plastic covering. Works a treat, particularly when it comes to harvesting as most of the spuds are lying on the surface to be collected like windfall apples and the rest are only a few inches below and easy to find and as a result I don't get the problem with volunteers the following year like I used to. It also eradicates the dreaded Spraing I used to suffer from I don't know why but it does. No weeding either!

[ghost61]

My seed potatoes have just arrived from JBA.  Very good quality - much better than last year when seed was in short supply.  I am trying Maxine this year in addition to King Edward and Charlotte.  I have Anya's galore from last year and will keep a few to plant out as a trial instead of buying new seed.  Don't need many as we still have about 300 of them (grew 40 plants last year) to get through!  I find that they store very well and will see us through till the Charlottes are lifted.

Each 2.5kg bag had 43 potatoes in it.

They mucked up the shallots order though, and sent me two pack of Red Baron onion sets in error - immediate response to my email - shallots are on their way and we can keep the onions!  Great service every year, even when things go wrong.

[Aunt Sally]

My "Garden of England" plot is actually very sandy and holds very little moisture and we have more drought than most of the country   

[4 Seasons]

My seed potatoes have just arrived from JBA.  Very good quality - much better than last year when seed was in short supply.  I am trying Maxine this year in addition to King Edward and Charlotte.  I have Anya's galore from last year and will keep a few to plant out as a trial instead of buying new seed.  Don't need many as we still have about 300 of them (grew 40 plants last year) to get through!  I find that they store very well and will see us through till the Charlottes are lifted.

Each 2.5kg bag had 43 potatoes in it.

They mucked up the shallots order though, and sent me two pack of Red Baron onion sets in error - immediate response to my email - shallots are on their way and we can keep the onions!  Great service every year, even when things go wrong.

Good to hear that the Anya are lasting well for you unlike BabbyAnn's. I'll find out the hard way. Storage quality for main crop spuds is an important consideration so I'll keep my fingers crossed on that one.

JBA potatoes also made a mistake on my original order and sent me Arron Pilot instead of Pink Fir Apple. When I phoned them I was informed that they were probably packed by an Eastern European that doesn't read English very well and was just identifying similar letters. As there is a capital A and P in both varieties the mix up sounds plausible. However they have just sent me twice the amount of Pink Fir Apple I originally ordered so I've got seed potatoes spread out over the hockey, can't move for them. Looks like a Triffid invasion from space.

[mumofstig]

I ordered 2.5kg of Kestrel and Desiree and 5 Wilja to try - they sent 2.5kg of each sort 

Now I just have to think where I can grow the extras   

[Willow_Warren]

I have now purchased my last potatoes.

I got 12 Maris Piper and 12 Desiree.  I picked them loose and were 25p each of 5 for £1 so came to a gran total of £5.  Not really cheap but never mind!

What I did notice though was that they also had bags of 10 (many in duplicate varieties to the loose ones - maybe come were different I didn't do a full study  ). But the ones in the pre-packed bags were much smaller than the ones loose. I really don't know if size matters but  as well as I could I picked "egg" sizes ones with plenty of chits.  Looking forward to spring now 

I maybe boring with my varieties, but I likes the taste from last years growing so I'm going with the same varieties again - call me boring 

Hannah

[mumofstig]

 Boring Hannah!...............






well you asked for it