Hello All....

A simple question this - are seed potatos as sold in garden centres
etc really any different to those purchased in supermarkets and left
in the bottom of the fridge for a few weeks? ie can I just plant one
that's 'gone to seed' as it were, and expect to get any sort of a crop
come the autumn?

I realise I'm probably a little late for this season, but we're in
Scotland, and the ground's only recently become workable.

Cheers and thanks in advance

Tim

In article ,
(Tim) writes:
|
| A simple question this - are seed potatos as sold in garden centres
| etc really any different to those purchased in supermarkets and left
| in the bottom of the fridge for a few weeks? ie can I just plant one
| that's 'gone to seed' as it were, and expect to get any sort of a crop
| come the autumn?

Yes, if you choose a suitable variety. You don't want to plant ones
that have long, weak shoots.

| I realise I'm probably a little late for this season, but we're in
| Scotland, and the ground's only recently become workable.

Well, mine are JUST coming through, and I'm much further south.
You aren't too late - not even to order seed.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

It was a dark and stormy night, and as the people of uk.rec.gardening
huddled around the fire, Tim told them this story:

A simple question this - are seed potatos as sold in garden centres
etc really any different to those purchased in supermarkets and left
in the bottom of the fridge for a few weeks? ie can I just plant one
that's 'gone to seed' as it were, and expect to get any sort of a crop
come the autumn?

We did, last year. We had some King Edwards in the cupboard
which were beginning to sprout, so we dug them into the
garden. We even remembered to earth them up a couple of
times. When a few of the leaves died back I panicked,
thinking we were sure to have blight, and we dug them up. A
lovely large crop of new potatoes. Perfect with butter and
herbs.

A little later we found a couple of Desiree in the back of
the cupboard. They'd been neglected for months and the
shoots were over two feet long. We buried them, laying the
entire shoot horizontally in the ground. We left them quite
late in the year before digging them up to find one
*ginormous* potato (about the size of my hand) and a few
tiny ones. Not such a good crop, but I'm still unsure why
the imbalance.

No potatoes this year, we don't have the room. At some
point in the future we're thinking of buying one of those
barrels and trying it that way, in hopes of a bigger crop.
But for now we're concentrating on beans this year.

Rhiannon

The message
from (Tim) contains these words:

Hello All....

A simple question this - are seed potatos as sold in garden centres
etc really any different to those purchased in supermarkets and left
in the bottom of the fridge for a few weeks? ie can I just plant one
that's 'gone to seed' as it were, and expect to get any sort of a crop
come the autumn?

The ones sold as seed potatoes are certified free of blight (a serious
potato disease). The ones sold in supermarkets have usually been treated
with a growth inhibitor to reduce sprouting, so may not grow quite as
well.

I realise I'm probably a little late for this season, but we're in
Scotland, and the ground's only recently become workable.

So am I. This has been a record-breaking warm dry Spring in Scotland,
so what's with your soil? :-)

You've still got time to put some potatoes in; they will just crop a
bit later.

Janet.

"Tim" wrote in message
A simple question this - are seed potatos as sold in garden centres
etc really any different to those purchased in supermarkets and left
in the bottom of the fridge for a few weeks? ie can I just plant one
that's 'gone to seed' as it were, and expect to get any sort of a crop
come the autumn?

I realise I'm probably a little late for this season, but we're in
Scotland, and the ground's only recently become workable.

One of the old gardeners (growing veg for 60 years +) on our allotment site
never bought seed potatoes, he always went to a local supermarket and bought
the biggest cheapest spuds and planted those. He always got the biggest crop
of the biggest potatoes.

However, if they carry any disease it will be transferred into your soil.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

Last year I tried both potatoes from the store and those that were sold for
planting. The ones I ordered seemed to do produce more than the ones I had
left over from the grocery store. This year I planted some that were left
from last years crop. I am trying to find out how they will do in
comparison.

If I understand correctly, the potatoes you plant later and harvest later,
will better for storing.

Dwayne

"Sue & Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Tim" wrote in message
A simple question this - are seed potatos as sold in garden centres
etc really any different to those purchased in supermarkets and left
in the bottom of the fridge for a few weeks? ie can I just plant one
that's 'gone to seed' as it were, and expect to get any sort of a crop
come the autumn?

I realise I'm probably a little late for this season, but we're in
Scotland, and the ground's only recently become workable.

One of the old gardeners (growing veg for 60 years +) on our allotment
site
never bought seed potatoes, he always went to a local supermarket and
bought
the biggest cheapest spuds and planted those. He always got the biggest
crop
of the biggest potatoes.

However, if they carry any disease it will be transferred into your soil.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

In article ,
"Sue & Bob Hobden" writes:
|
| One of the old gardeners (growing veg for 60 years +) on our allotment site
| never bought seed potatoes, he always went to a local supermarket and bought
| the biggest cheapest spuds and planted those. He always got the biggest crop
| of the biggest potatoes.
|
| However, if they carry any disease it will be transferred into your soil.

And they aren't likely to taste any better than the ones he bought
in the supermarket.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
"Sue & Bob Hobden" writes:
|
| One of the old gardeners (growing veg for 60 years +) on our allotment
site
| never bought seed potatoes, he always went to a local supermarket and
bought
| the biggest cheapest spuds and planted those. He always got the biggest
crop
| of the biggest potatoes.
|
| However, if they carry any disease it will be transferred into your
soil.

And they aren't likely to taste any better than the ones he bought
in the supermarket.

Well they might, if they are absolutely fresh)

O

"Nick wrote in message after
Bob wrote
|
| One of the old gardeners (growing veg for 60 years +) on our allotment
site
| never bought seed potatoes, he always went to a local supermarket and
bought
| the biggest cheapest spuds and planted those. He always got the biggest
crop
| of the biggest potatoes.
|
| However, if they carry any disease it will be transferred into your
soil.

And they aren't likely to taste any better than the ones he bought
in the supermarket.


I'm not so sure on that Nick, a lot of plants from Supermarkets etc have
little taste nowadays and even flowers from florists don't have much smell
either but I believe in a lot of cases it's the growing method rather than
the variety that's to blame.
i.e. as an experiment I took some cutting from bunches of totally
non-smelling spray carnations bought from a local florist. The next year,
when they flowered out on the allotment, they had the most intense carnation
perfume, they'd been grown hard, out in the open, not soft/quick/under
glass.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

In article ,
Sue & Bob Hobden wrote:

"Nick wrote in message after
Bob wrote
|
| One of the old gardeners (growing veg for 60 years +) on our allotment
site
| never bought seed potatoes, he always went to a local supermarket and
bought
| the biggest cheapest spuds and planted those. He always got the biggest
crop
| of the biggest potatoes.
|
| However, if they carry any disease it will be transferred into your
soil.

And they aren't likely to taste any better than the ones he bought
in the supermarket.

I'm not so sure on that Nick, a lot of plants from Supermarkets etc have
little taste nowadays and even flowers from florists don't have much smell
either but I believe in a lot of cases it's the growing method rather than
the variety that's to blame.

In the case of the "large white" and "large red" potatoes, it is more
the variety than the growing method. The same is not true of the
Jersey Royals grown under irrigation in hot climates. If he had bought
ones that were NOT the "biggest cheapest spuds", then I would not have
posted what I did.

i.e. as an experiment I took some cutting from bunches of totally
non-smelling spray carnations bought from a local florist. The next year,
when they flowered out on the allotment, they had the most intense carnation
perfume, they'd been grown hard, out in the open, not soft/quick/under
glass.

The cheap supermarket potatoes are watered and heavily fertilised, but
not enough to make a difference in kind - only in degree.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Hi Tim, I'm in Scotland too (SE). I have some Duke of Yorks (bought)
and some King Edwards (saved from last year) through the ground. But I
am going to plant some more soon. They way I look at it is the the
later planted ones give me some "new" potatoes later in the year and
the earlier ones give me some main crop at the same time. Disease
aside they are pretty hardy and need very little work. I should add
that my main objective is some really nice tatties, not a huge crop.
Find some, anything, and whack 'em in and enjoy.
Jonny
x-no-archive: yes,On 22 Apr 2003 04:48:17 -0700,
(Tim) wrote:

Hello All....

A simple question this - are seed potatos as sold in garden centres
etc really any different to those purchased in supermarkets and left
in the bottom of the fridge for a few weeks? ie can I just plant one
that's 'gone to seed' as it were, and expect to get any sort of a crop
come the autumn?

I realise I'm probably a little late for this season, but we're in
Scotland, and the ground's only recently become workable.

Cheers and thanks in advance

Tim

In article ,
Jon wrote:
Hi Tim, I'm in Scotland too (SE). I have some Duke of Yorks (bought)
and some King Edwards (saved from last year) through the ground. But I
am going to plant some more soon. They way I look at it is the the
later planted ones give me some "new" potatoes later in the year and
the earlier ones give me some main crop at the same time. Disease
aside they are pretty hardy and need very little work. I should add
that my main objective is some really nice tatties, not a huge crop.
Find some, anything, and whack 'em in and enjoy.

I have started moving over to the more specialist varieties, as the
ordinary ones can be bought. I favour Belle de Fontenay as a first
early, and have built up enough Champion for a serious crop, but
still grow a few Bute Blues and quite a lot of King Edward (our
preferred staple).

I got the Champion and Bute Blues from Tuckers, and am trying Orion
and Witchill this year. They also sell the others.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick, You seem to have more knowledge on this subject as I have never
heard of most of these Varieties:-) Last year I let some ground to a
local commercial grower and he grew mainly Maris Piper, but also some
Maris Peer. He told me these were a salad type potato. We had friends
round for dinner and I made potato salad with two different dressings,
using Peer, Piper and King Edwards. So we had 6 labelled dishes, all
with young potatoes, by no means fully developed. There was a slight
difference in the texture of the different varieties, but the dressing
was more dominant. The net result was we had 6 potato salads that were
all nice, but none of us could really express a preference. Do I learn
from this that most potatoes are suitable for salads as long as they
are young, or there really specialist varieties? Different story for
later in the season - boiling, chipping, mashing etc.
Jonny
x-no-archive: yes,On 23 Apr 2003 19:52:17 GMT,
(Nick Maclaren) wrote:


I have started moving over to the more specialist varieties, as the
ordinary ones can be bought. I favour Belle de Fontenay as a first
early, and have built up enough Champion for a serious crop, but
still grow a few Bute Blues and quite a lot of King Edward (our
preferred staple).

I got the Champion and Bute Blues from Tuckers, and am trying Orion
and Witchill this year. They also sell the others.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
Jon wrote:
Nick, You seem to have more knowledge on this subject as I have never
heard of most of these Varieties:-) Last year I let some ground to a
local commercial grower and he grew mainly Maris Piper, but also some
Maris Peer. He told me these were a salad type potato. We had friends
round for dinner and I made potato salad with two different dressings,
using Peer, Piper and King Edwards. So we had 6 labelled dishes, all
with young potatoes, by no means fully developed. There was a slight
difference in the texture of the different varieties, but the dressing
was more dominant. The net result was we had 6 potato salads that were
all nice, but none of us could really express a preference. Do I learn
from this that most potatoes are suitable for salads as long as they
are young, or there really specialist varieties? Different story for
later in the season - boiling, chipping, mashing etc.

Well, I am no expert :-)

Yes, I agree that most varieties make good salad potatoes when dug
young. Belle de Fontenay is a small, smooth, waxy, well flavoured
variety (and fairly disease resistant in my garden), but I used to
grow Maris Bard and that was and is good. Maris Lane is about a
mile away .... Charlotte is similar to BdF, but more modern and a
better cropper.

We bake a lot of potatoes, and all of King Edward, Champion and Bute
Blues are good bakers. The last is small, with a thick, dark skin,
and is rather like Shetland Black but better flavoured - but a poor
cropper. Champion was apparently Ireland's favourite potato, and I
can see why. A very high dry matter content, almost chestnutty when
freshly dug and very dry and floury when baked - again with a thick
skin. Like King Edward, it also mashes well.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , Jon
writes
Nick, You seem to have more knowledge on this subject as I have never
heard of most of these Varieties:-) Last year I let some ground to a
local commercial grower and he grew mainly Maris Piper, but also some
Maris Peer. He told me these were a salad type potato. We had friends
round for dinner and I made potato salad with two different dressings,
using Peer, Piper and King Edwards. So we had 6 labelled dishes, all
with young potatoes, by no means fully developed. There was a slight
difference in the texture of the different varieties, but the dressing
was more dominant. The net result was we had 6 potato salads that were
all nice, but none of us could really express a preference. Do I learn
from this that most potatoes are suitable for salads as long as they
are young, or there really specialist varieties? Different story for
later in the season - boiling, chipping, mashing etc.
Jonny
x-no-archive: yes,On 23 Apr 2003 19:52:17 GMT,
(Nick Maclaren) wrote:


snipped
Jon,
Last year at the Southport Flower Show I picked up a booklet from the
T&M stand called The Potato Collection. Therein is quite a bit of info
on salad potato varieties. T&M may still have booklets and as it is only
16 pages it is unlikely to cost an arm and a leg in postage.
http://www.thompson-morgan.com
Voice... (01473) 688821
HTH
Ron Lowe
Just adding my teaspoon of knowledge to the
vast ocean of information that is Cyberspace.