Spuds

Saturday 31st March 2012
The weather turns - just in time for the holidays.

A couple of big jobs out of the way.

During the last week I have managed to get my early potatoes into the ground and mounded up. Some people like to get them in early in March, but when those tops poke through the mounds they will need protecting from the frosts, and I'm sure there's a fair few of those still to come.

Planting potatoes involves an awful lot of moving soil around. It's a big job. Most of the potato crop grows in the mounds of soil you heap up, not down into the ground below. As the shoots emerge, you mound the soil up more, but I like to make the mounds as big as possible at the beginning so I don't need to keep going back to the same job. One unexpected sharp frost, if it catches the young shoots, can set the plants back and undo all the effort of getting them in early.

I like to plant lots of varieties of spuds - they all have their own unique qualities, and I figure that if something goes wrong I prefer not to have all my eggs in one basket. I've gone for four varieties of First Early this year.

Red Duke of York did very well last year. A floury potato, it makes an excellent chip.
Also Arran Pilot, Dunluce and Swift, all for that classic new potato taste.

A little more colour and experiment with the Second Earlies.
Salad Blue I've tried before - a novelty potato with blue/purple flesh, though it can go a bit watery when boiled.
Bonnie is a delightful white potato with red blushes. Charlotte, a salad potato, the one that comes in small, very expensive bags in the supermarkets. Did very well last year. And finally, Edgecote Purple, a new variety to try, deep purple skins.

More Fence

Since the chickens have been given freedom to roam, they have behaved well. On the whole they respect the boundaries of the veg patch and have discovered the orchard and the long grass of the meadow to their liking. The boundary with Don's land here is not chicken proof, and although they'd have  long way to go to get to his vegetables, I don't want to give them any encouragement! So today's little job was to erect 50m of chicken wire fencing, a job which involves lots of walking up and down the fenceline, mainly to retrieve tools which always end up at the other end of the fence to where needed.

With a couple of hours left, I dug a bed around the base of one of the apple trees, a new home for the rest of the strawberry plants which Don gave us.

Eventually, I want to do this with all the fruit trees, with various plants and flowers underneath them, some for beauty, some to protect the trees from disease and pests.

A Spud Is Not Just A Spud

Thursday 2nd February 2012

Dipping below zero overnight, just struggling above during the day.

The Easterly blow continues.

Chitting time

The seed potatoes which I ordered back in December have arrived. I have ordered many different varieties, as I treat each of them almost as a separate vegetable. Red Duke of York makes a great chip from an early potato. Dunluce is an early potato which boils beautifully and lasts well in the ground. Salad Blue is an amazing colour, with purplish blue flesh which does not discolour on cooking. But it can go watery if overcooked just a tad. Desirees came out of my ground by the bucketful last year, huge tubers which make excellent bakers and delightful mash. Pink Fir Apples are actually potatoes, those long, thin pink ones. They are a salad potato which crop very late. Again, this variety did exceptionally well in my ground last year and I am still eating perfect potatoes from store. Potatoes are best bought in each year as "seed potatoes". These are really just smallish potatoes saved from last year, but they are saved under special conditions so the tubers can be planted this year. They tend to come from Scotland where some of the common potato diseases are absent, and this freedom from disease is the main reason for bringing in fresh stock every year, something which thrifty gardeners are usually loathe to do. This also means that any viruses will not be perpetuated from year to year.

Having said all that,  I have kept some of my Edzell Blues to use this year. That's because I just couldn't get hold of any this year, from any source. Edzell Blue was my favourite chipper and roaster last year. Not perfect, as it can disintegrate on boiling and those in storage are now losing condition. But a variety which I am very keen to grow again this year. Hopefully it won't be a decision I come to regret.

Just as a car is not just a car, but comes in many different shapes and sizes, each suitable for particular purposes and tastes, so a spud is not just a spud.

Yes, spuds are still a very cheap vegetable to buy in the stores, but if you want a vegetable with character which is a specialist and not a general all-rounder, if you want that then you can pay a fortune, if you can even get hold of what you want.

One potato I won't be growing is Shetland Black. One of my favourites as a small potato to bake, this variety did not yield at all well in my soil. Instead I shall try a couple of new varieties. Every year I live and learn.

I have also purchased some varieties this year which I was unable to get hold of last year. In particular, Orla, Sante and Sarpo Mira are good potatoes for the organic grower, as they are especially resistant to disease, particularly blight, a fungal disease which can devastate crops in a warm, wet summer. Last year, we largely escaped any blight attack, but I won't be that lucky every year.

Laying potatoes out like this so they begin to throw up sprouts before being planted is known as chitting. It's best to keep just a few healthy shoots on each, although more shoots will result in more, but smaller, potatoes. It's always a very exciting event laying these out. It means that this year's growing is under way. 


I get most of my seed potatoes from JBA seed potatoes.
http://www.jbaseedpotatoes.co.uk/

They deliver excellent quality potatoes which give good results. Their website contains lots of information about how to grow potatoes as well as plenty of information about each variety.

There are vast differences in prices across the internet, and you need to make sure you take into account delivery costs. I could buy my potatoes locally, but choice tends to be limited to the more conservative varieties.
Many of the heritage varieties would be nigh on impossible to find if it weren't for the internet.
Could buy locally, but not so much choice.