Author Topic: Which Potatoes (Read 2886 times)

dyedinthewool · « **on:** September 15, 2012, 10:04:30 pm »

Having been buying potatoes from the supermarkets/farm shop for the last few years I've been very dissapointed with the 'state' of them; either got scab, rake marks, bruised or green....The pots they sell as bakers have a 'sweet ' taste or a soggy skin and a wet inside , the latest lot spent 1-1/2 hrs in a 200degree oven and ended up having to be micro'd be then they were black on the outside, wet and hardly cooked on the inside and no taste... these were sold as Bakers.

King Edwards are like pea size and cost the earth.

Maris Peer - great for Chips and Bakers - not so good for roasters - can't keep them from going into a slush when par boiling them. No good for boiled again go to mush on outside still hard on the inside however I try.

So thinking of putting in potatoes next year not a huge area just enough to see us through for a few months.

What I want is a Good size potatoe that will do jackets/roasters/chips that crisps on the outside and stays fluffy on the inside and thats not 'sweet'. One for boiling that not yellow or waxy but has a good taste and holds it's shape.

Any suggestions on your favorite spud would be a great help.

Oh.... soil is on the acid side and we get a lot of rain.

Mammyshaz · « **Reply #1 on:** September 15, 2012, 10:31:26 pm »

Plant in pots or bags with well rotted manure. Sorry not an expert but we've had better results with our bagged ones than the ground grown ones, as have our friendly allotment keepers ( several ) who now prefer it to ground grown.

It may be just our acidity level. We've tried different varieties too. Still much better than bought ones

What are other opinionson this ?

Fleecewife · « **Reply #2 on:** September 16, 2012, 12:33:34 am »

We are the opposite of you mammyshaz - spuds in pots don't work for us but we normally have excellent results from them planted directly in the ground

This year wasn't so good with a huge number of slugs, including those giant black ones which have demolished most above-ground crops, and several potato tubers have small grey slugs in

Desiree is a good variety in some soils - we used to grow it in our allotments in Edinburgh way back when, but it didn't do so well further south here in the hills.
I like Cara and red Cara which are really tasty and have some blight resistance. They are a multi-purpose tuber, attractive and grow well with a good yield in fertile soil.

If you have no blight problems in your garden, Mayan Gold is a great potato to grow for roasting. It is a native South American type, different to our usual varieties, with yellow flesh which makes superb wedges. It can't be boiled as it falls to mush, and nor does it need to be parboiled before roasting. It is susceptible to blight though, which is a bit of a drawback, but we have had excellent crops from it all except one year when it succumbed to blight before we could dig it.

The trouble with making recommendations is that potatoes which are excellent in one garden may be totally different in another, so you need to trial a number of varieties in your plot before deciding which would be worth growing on a larger scale.

Odin · « **Reply #3 on:** September 17, 2012, 05:59:04 am »

Had a look at your location on the map, don't know much about the soil type there but isn't there a lot of red sandstone ??
I put ten different varieties in this time, all purchased from JBA Seed Potato Merchants who are very helpful.
Many suffered this time with blight but the reliable old faithfuls are the Cara & Kestral. They are the only ones that have got any size to them in the short period of sun that we had. They are the only spuds that grew a decent plant to create a canopy to beat the weeds that makes them easier to lift. Many of my spuds are under weed and the slugs are in there,
I have some Golden Wonder that produced loads of white tubers but the plants died early. Nice looking little white things without damage but a massive task lifting them.
In conclusion, Variety, Soil Type, Fertilizers etc. The governing factor is the weather

dyedinthewool · « **Reply #4 on:** September 17, 2012, 08:48:32 pm »

Sorry maybe didn't ask the right question

Really I wanted to know what the rest of you smallholders are growing, so I can work out what the most popular variety of pots are, and what reason you grow them for ie: roasters -bakers etc.
I grew potatoes over here in west wales in our previous property quite a few different varieties over the years but I found that the ones I like such as King Edward didn't give a very good crop and tended to be small - tried several of the 'blight free' ones but they seemed to have all top and nothing underground - Maris Peer had a lot of scab, but the actual size of the tuber was good.

I haven't time now (getting older by the day

) and not such a big area to be able to plant several sorts.

Was hoping to get lots of answers giving your favorite spuds...so I could cut down the research side of it.

Odin · « **Reply #5 on:** September 17, 2012, 09:05:21 pm »

I have grown some Salad Blue, which are ... Blue ! Even when boiled. Eaten warm or cold on salad dishes. Not a large potato but interesting and will spark a conversation, like. "Never seen spuds like that before".
Looking for my Shetland Blacks, not found as yet ??

darkbrowneggs · « **Reply #6 on:** September 17, 2012, 09:19:30 pm »

Potatoes will be affected by the soil they are grown in, and taste is a personal thing, some types of flavour and texture appealing more to some people that others.

Having said that over the years I have tried many varieties and (bearing in mind I generally prefer "waxy" to "floury" potatoes) I have found that Lady Balfour is one of the most reliable and best flavour for late use and storage, and Harlequin for mid season and storage, with Swift giving good early crops.

Last year I grew Ariane from Alan Romans, which were good, but he didn't have them this year, and I wonder if he has sold out to T&M now as I can't get to his site any more.