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

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?

"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

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.

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.

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.

"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

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.

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

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.