Potatoes

Greyduster now is the time to get your seed potatoes, as I expect you know,

All this talk of potatoes makes me hunger for growing them again. We had a large allotment and grew several different varieties. When GS’s school put out a request last for someone to set up a potato growing exercise with the children, I offered and was accepted, but they never got it off the ground unfortunately.

Thank you OldMeg that is really helpful.

In my gardening family years ago, potatoes were always traditionally planted on Good Friday.
The gardeners are now all long gone.

It’s the temperature you need to check when storing Grannyknot or they will sprout even in a dark place.

Choose a dry room with a temperature of 35 to 40 F. (2-4 C.). Ideally, a refrigerator works well, but the crop may be too large to store in your fridge. An unheated basement or garage is also a good choice.

Don’t store tubers where temperatures are likely to freeze, as they will crack open.

The length of time and quality of stored potatoes is influenced by the variety of tuber you plant. Red potatoes do not keep as long as the white or yellow skinned varieties. Thick skinned russets have an even longer life. If you tend to grow a variety of kinds of potatoes, use the thinner skinned spuds first.

Hope that helps

Please could an experienced potato grower help with info for a novice? We had a bumper potato crop last year and I have stored them carefully in hessian sacks, in a dark cupboard but they are sprouting faster than we can eat them (we also gave lots away). So what do I do - do I I just break off the "eyes" as they sprout? Don't want our delicious crop of potatoes to just go to waste.

Since having blight, we try to go for blight resistant varieties such as sarpo miro. For taste, I love pink fir apple and yukon gold.

We had some lovely potatoes from self-setters last autumn.

Arran Pilot are very tasty earlies.

I always grow Charlotte, as they seem to resist blight. The tops are always affected eventually and often die away completely but the potatoes are fine, never blighted. I also note that mine never seem to chit, they just sit in the shed for two months doing absolutely nothing, and then I plant them anyway, and they grow. They hardly ever flower either, so they obviously haven't read the books!

Forgot, Wilja is always a good bet (2nd Early) and has anyone tried the knobbly Pink Fir Apple. Very easy to grow and tasty too.

Charlottes are also good grown on to maturity, and store well too.

I am going to grow some in a compost bag as Monty recommends, thank you all for your help.

I like Charlotte too, but think I prefer Orla. That’s a 1/2 early like Charlotte.

All three varieties - 5 potatoes per sack are earlies.

So Charlotte is one, can’t for the life of me remember the others!

I’m only growing first earlies this year Whitewave because we hardly eat potatoes, but do love those first new potatoes straight from the ground, buttered ???

Do not put blighted or otherwise sick looking potatoes in a compost bin. I am tempted to try a potato sack.

Our seed potatoes arrived yesterday. We only grow a very tiny amount since giving up the allotment. We grow them in potato sacks. They will be chitted in the greenhouse ready to plant in about 6 weeks or so.

I like Epicure but only because I like the flavour. I think it's a first early.

PS you have to buy ‘seed’ potatoes (local garden centres or online)

Then sit these in egg boxes, in a cool light place, and let them chit (grow little buds/stalks) before you plant them.

Traditionally you plant your potatoes on St Patrick’s Day. But I prefer to leave it for a couple of weeks later.

There are three types of potatoes

First Earlies (new potatoes ready about June)
Second Earlies (newish potatoes ready mid season)
Maincrop (ready about October onwards)

Within these sections there are lots of different varieties.

When is the best time to plant them and what variety please.

The translucence is due to being frozen in the ground MissA you get the same look if you put potatoes in a very cold fridge.

This is a blighted potato

Is the translucence 'blight'. I grew some lovely potatoes last year in a bag for life outside my flat. its very satisfying!

That translucence is because they’ve been frozen in the ground.

midgey put the compost in your green bin, or burn it, you definitely do not want it in your garden or the fungus-like pathogen will infect your garden.