On 1/24/05 7:54 AM, in article ,
"jane" wrote:

On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 00:14:00 GMT, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

~The message
~from jakalad contains these words:
~
~ I was interested in Janes comments on the question of International Royal
~ kidneys and in particular the advise that the new potatoe must be picked at
~ an early stage. I grew Arran pilots last year and suffered from very
~ floury potatoes. Their boiling properties appeared to improve slightly
~ with peeeling but in general they were a flop as a new potatoe particularly
~ if left with the skin on. I put the problem down to a bad choice of seed
~ but I am now wondering if I simply lifted them too late. Jak
~
~ I grew Arran Pilot the year before last, just because we'd moved to
~Arran where they were bred, and found them very disappointing at every
~stage. Now I've reverted to my all-time favourite Estima which I can
~recommend as a delicious baby new potato and also as a whopping old
~potato (we're still eating last years crop).

I'm growing half a dozen varieties again I hope - which is the
advantage of getting spuds by the tuber rather than buying huge bags!
Last year I tried

Accent (ok but only got 3/5 plants, can't remember them being amazing)
Mimi (red salad, cherry tom size, nearly all hollowed out by slugs)
Red Duke of York (the most stunning colour and delicious)
Ratte (waxy salad - and I found some volunteers in December - which
were perfect, hardly any slug damage for months underground!)
Pink Fir Apple (very waxy salad - not much slug damage)
Estima (weren't brilliant but then again they were planted very late
so I'll try again)
International Kidney (third year now, seem to like my lottie and
seaweed meal and extract!)
Sarpo Mira/Axona/Tominia (dug up start of November and ate for
Christmas - very nice and they definitely didn't get blight, but then
again neither did anything else...)

So this year I'll drop the Accent and Mimi and try Kestrel. Rest the
same.

Chitting starts this weekend...

Chitting?????? Vell vot dos this mean? Dis verd chitting?