Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi there,
Just joined your forum and saw this topic. I'll be interested to see the results as I planted an experimental row of sarpo axona in November. However they are looking decidedly weedy now, unlike the volunteers which pop up every year around the place! Not much luck with an experimental green manure either; it's looking very patchy, perhaps the birds ate the seed? I didn't net the area.
Anyway, looking forward to being part of your community.

Welcome Bean!

I didn't experiment so can't comment on over wintering but very interested! The mild weather has at least pointed out the volunteer spuds from last years harvest and have been enjoying fresh spuds, that as are coming out earlier are unmarked by slugs!

All gonna be over next week though if weather report is accurate - but have noted the spot they are in! Just hope by digging them previously they are not too close to the surface to get frosted.

Westi

Hi Bean, I hope you planted them deep enough. I draw the soil up into a ridge so I know they are nice and deep and you can easily see where the rows are. No sign of any appearing yet despite the mild winter thank goodness.

You can roast Charlottes freshly dug. Lift, wash, don't peel, steam for 10 minutes, chuck into a tin with hot oil, roll them around sprinkle with salt and bit of Rosemary if you fancy it, and roast for an hour in a hot oven. Not your classic roastie but still good.

Motherwoman wrote:You can roast Charlottes freshly dug. Lift, wash, don't peel, steam for 10 minutes, chuck into a tin with hot oil, roll them around sprinkle with salt and bit of Rosemary if you fancy it, and roast for an hour in a hot oven. Not your classic roastie but still good.

Now your making me hungry... time to jump a train and a boat

PLUMPUDDING wrote:Hi Bean, I hope you planted them deep enough. I draw the soil up into a ridge so I know they are nice and deep and you can easily see where the rows are. No sign of any appearing yet despite the mild winter thank goodness.

Oh No, I planted them nice and shallow!! Lots of earth around the sides to pull down when they got going. Never mind, I'll try again next year. Learnt something already, although if I'd actually thought about it...

Thanks!

I really meant to try this out but when I sorted through my stored spuds they were no good. I did get some blight but thought I had saved the crop as I cut the halums off & when I dug them they seemed OK & we ate quite a lot. I think some of the blight spores must have made it into the potato. Also noticed some mice damage so they were pretty well doomed.

Better luck next time then!

Westi

Just had to look up Sheffield Steel dogs - never heard of them! Oops.

Plumpudding,

I'm sure this is a daft question, but what do you think he mean by seed potato's he's saved? Do you think he used some of last years crop? I was talking to someone the other day and we were not sure...what makes a seed potato a seed potato? Isn't a potato a potato??

Other than for hygiene / disease control reasons, I don't get why we are told to buy seed potato's every year, rather than re-using what we have.

Yes seed potatoes are just ones saved from that year's crop. They recommend that you buy new ones every year to avoid disease being carried over to next year's crop, but if you don't have any disease problems and save unblemished ones of a good size there shouldn't be a problem. The commercial suppliers have the advantage of being able to keep them at a constant low temperature so they stay dormant for longer which is difficult to do at home. I'm not sure how they ensure them being disease free. That's what made me try November planting so they naturally stay dormant until the growing conditions are right in spring. They do tend to be a bit later than ones chitted early in the year, but is a good way of keeping rare varieties, and very economical.

Best UK seed potatoes are from Scotland, I believe the low disease risk is produced by the colder climate being less suited to moulds.

OK, so it's probably more about disease control than anything else....

However, if you do use you're own potato's, which ones make the best seed potato's?

I select the ones for seed when I dig them up so I can save them from the best most productive plants. I choose undamaged healthy potatoes about hens egg size, not too small and not too large. I store them in paper bags in the cellar until I plant them.

Note I was just listening to an old episode of GQT and Bob Flowerdew said that the seed potato's come from areas where there are less Aphids (Aphids carry lots of diseases) which which tends to be further north or near the coast. So, really its a hygiene / disease issue.

I checked my potatoes yesterday and was surprised to see a full row of shoots on the Fortyfold. I've covered them over with a bit of soil and have the fleece handy in case of frost. No sign of any others.