Lousy potatoes!
Dug up a few first earlies, when they were cooked, they just broke down into a mess, tried some more but just at 20 minutes boiling, they also broke down not quite as much as the first lot, so, tried some second earlies, again boiling them for just 20 minutes, but they were not solid either! So what is the problem? Is it a lack of water/rain, I have watered the plants occassionaly, not every day, and as I am on a water meter I cannot soak them for a long time! Alan |
Lousy potatoes!
On 8 Aug, 17:47, "alan.holmes" wrote:
Dug up a few first earlies, when they were cooked, they just broke down into a mess, tried some more but just at 20 minutes boiling, they also broke down not quite as much as the first lot, so, tried some second earlies, again boiling them for just 20 minutes, but they were not solid either! So what is the problem? Is it a lack of water/rain, I have watered the plants occassionaly, not every day, and as I am on a water meter I cannot soak them for a long time! Alan Dug up too soon? |
Lousy potatoes!
"alan.holmes" wrote in message news:EcB7o.117123$hz1.92584@hurricane... Dug up a few first earlies, when they were cooked, they just broke down into a mess, tried some more but just at 20 minutes boiling, they also broke down not quite as much as the first lot, so, tried some second earlies, again boiling them for just 20 minutes, but they were not solid either! So what is the problem? Is it a lack of water/rain, I have watered the plants occassionaly, not every day, and as I am on a water meter I cannot soak them for a long time! Alan Try steaming them next time. Graham |
Lousy potatoes!
On 08/08/2010 18:47, alan.holmes wrote:
Dug up a few first earlies, when they were cooked, they just broke down into a mess, tried some more but just at 20 minutes boiling, they also broke down not quite as much as the first lot, so, tried some second earlies, again boiling them for just 20 minutes, but they were not solid either! So what is the problem? Is it a lack of water/rain, I have watered the plants occassionaly, not every day, and as I am on a water meter I cannot soak them for a long time! 1) Boiled too long? When I boil potatoes I stick a fork in periodically to see if they are cooked. I never boil for a set time. 2) Boiling them too hard? So they are bouncing around in the pan and more likely to break up when they are close to cooked. -- David in Normandy. To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the subject line, or it will be automatically deleted by a filter and not reach my inbox. |
Lousy potatoes!
There does seem to be a problem this year at least here in northern
Normandy. Don't know the cause. You can cook earlies in the microwave, but it takes some care. Regards "David in Normandy" a écrit dans le message de . fr... On 08/08/2010 18:47, alan.holmes wrote: Dug up a few first earlies, when they were cooked, they just broke down into a mess, tried some more but just at 20 minutes boiling, they also broke down not quite as much as the first lot, so, tried some second earlies, again boiling them for just 20 minutes, but they were not solid either! So what is the problem? Is it a lack of water/rain, I have watered the plants occassionaly, not every day, and as I am on a water meter I cannot soak them for a long time! 1) Boiled too long? When I boil potatoes I stick a fork in periodically to see if they are cooked. I never boil for a set time. 2) Boiling them too hard? So they are bouncing around in the pan and more likely to break up when they are close to cooked. -- David in Normandy. To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the subject line, or it will be automatically deleted by a filter and not reach my inbox. |
Lousy potatoes!
alan.holmes wrote:
So what is the problem? Isn't it just 'the type of potato'? I thought some were good boilers, and others turned to mush. Each useful in its own way (mush-making ones tend to be turned into soup or scouse. |
Lousy potatoes!
"alan.holmes" wrote ... Dug up a few first earlies, when they were cooked, they just broke down into a mess, tried some more but just at 20 minutes boiling, they also broke down not quite as much as the first lot, so, tried some second earlies, again boiling them for just 20 minutes, but they were not solid either! So what is the problem? Is it a lack of water/rain, I have watered the plants occassionaly, not every day, and as I am on a water meter I cannot soak them for a long time! You boiled them too long as others have said but it's also down to the dry weather this year, even our waxy ones are floury. Make good roast potatoes though, which is unusual for earlies. BTW we tried two varieties new to us this year and in our soil the Orla were excellent but the Premier were covered in serious scab, guess which one we will grow again. -- Regards Bob Hobden W.of London. UK |
Lousy potatoes!
Bob Hobden wrote:
BTW we tried two varieties new to us this year and in our soil the Orla were excellent but the Premier were covered in serious scab, guess which one we will grow again. Were the orla organic or 'normal'? We had the organic ones last year, and although they were fine, they were a bit scabby and low yield, iirc. Although I think the ones we had were nice tasting and quite large. |
Lousy potatoes!
wrote in message ... Bob Hobden wrote: BTW we tried two varieties new to us this year and in our soil the Orla were excellent but the Premier were covered in serious scab, guess which one we will grow again. Were the orla organic or 'normal'? We had the organic ones last year, and although they were fine, they were a bit scabby and low yield, iirc. Although I think the ones we had were nice tasting and quite large. Normal I think, we don't bother about "Organic TM" seed. It's down to the soil type and the variety, for example King Edwards hate heavy soil so no good here at all whereas a friend a few miles away with sandy soil does well. Which is why we are always trying new varieties just to see which does well in our soil, an acid clay/silt. It's one of the problems in moving to a new allotment site and takes years of experiment. So far for us it's Early...Orla; SE..Kestral; Main.. Victoria (and probably Setanta looking at the hulms but I've not dug any yet) -- Regards Bob Hobden W.of London. UK |
Lousy potatoes!
On 08/08/2010 22:38, Daddy Tadpole wrote:
There does seem to be a problem this year at least here in northern Normandy. Don't know the cause. You can cook earlies in the microwave, but it takes some care. Mine have been the best crop ever this year. I think it is down to several factors: The variety "Daisy" are a high cropping and large sized potato variety. Secondly I've been hand watering them with pee in the ratio of approximately 1 part pee to 20 parts water. There has also been a lot of sun. I'll definitely grow "Daisy" again. -- David in Normandy. To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the subject line, or it will be automatically deleted by a filter and not reach my inbox. |
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