Potatoes - thank you.
 

I just wanted to say thank you to all those who helpfully recommended
potato varieties very early this year.

I grew Charlotte and a first early - good, plentiful clean crop. Good
flavour.
I also grew Estima and Kestrel as Second Earlies. I did really well
with Kestrel and enjoyed them. With Estima, I planted fewer and
therefore got fewer but they were good quality and good eaters, too.

I even gave a few spare Kestrel tubers to a friend, who enjoyed theirs,
too. I think they may have cropped theirs a bit too early, though, so
didn't get as many as I did.

So thanks very much from me and my friend.
--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

Potatoes - thank you.
 

On Tue, 19 Nov 2013 15:44:47 +0000, Spider wrote:



So thanks very much from me and my friend.

Next year try Pink Fir Apple :)

Potatoes - thank you.
 

On 20/11/2013 08:22, Derek Turner wrote:
On Tue, 19 Nov 2013 15:44:47 +0000, Spider wrote:



So thanks very much from me and my friend.

Next year try Pink Fir Apple :)




I've often come close, but I've heard there's not much crop for the
effort. Is that what you find?

--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

Potatoes - thank you.
 

On Wed, 20 Nov 2013 16:10:32 +0000, Spider wrote:

I've often come close, but I've heard there's not much crop for the
effort. Is that what you find?

Not a heavy cropper but an exquisite taste :)

Also take the prize as the most difficult to peel!

Potatoes - thank you.
 

On 20/11/2013 16:19, Derek Turner wrote:
On Wed, 20 Nov 2013 16:10:32 +0000, Spider wrote:

I've often come close, but I've heard there's not much crop for the
effort. Is that what you find?

Not a heavy cropper but an exquisite taste :)

Also take the prize as the most difficult to peel!




I could live with the exquisite taste; not sure about the faffy peeling.
Can they just be scrubbed and cooked in their skins? Even more
flavour, if so.

I have read somewhere that there's now a cross between PFA and another
potato, creating a good-tasting potato with less tricky peeling. Have
you heard of this, or even tried it?
--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

Potatoes - thank you.
 

In article ,
Spider wrote:
On 20/11/2013 16:19, Derek Turner wrote:
On Wed, 20 Nov 2013 16:10:32 +0000, Spider wrote:

I've often come close, but I've heard there's not much crop for the
effort. Is that what you find?

Not a heavy cropper but an exquisite taste :)

Also take the prize as the most difficult to peel!

I could live with the exquisite taste; not sure about the faffy peeling.
Can they just be scrubbed and cooked in their skins? Even more
flavour, if so.

I am boggled at the idea that anyone would even try to peel them,
as they have a very thin skin! Just scrub them and boil them,
though there are other recipes, too.

I have read somewhere that there's now a cross between PFA and another
potato, creating a good-tasting potato with less tricky peeling. Have
you heard of this, or even tried it?

I wouldn't bother. Now, if there was a variety that were less
susceptible to blight, that might be a different matter. The two
disadvantages of PFA are that it needs a lot of space to straggle,
and that it is very sensitive to blight. In my experience, it
gives as good a crop as any of the other potatoes that taste of
anything, but of smaller tubers.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Potatoes - thank you.
 

On 20/11/2013 16:49, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Spider wrote:
On 20/11/2013 16:19, Derek Turner wrote:
On Wed, 20 Nov 2013 16:10:32 +0000, Spider wrote:

I've often come close, but I've heard there's not much crop for the
effort. Is that what you find?

Not a heavy cropper but an exquisite taste :)

Also take the prize as the most difficult to peel!

I could live with the exquisite taste; not sure about the faffy peeling.
Can they just be scrubbed and cooked in their skins? Even more
flavour, if so.

I am boggled at the idea that anyone would even try to peel them,
as they have a very thin skin! Just scrub them and boil them,
though there are other recipes, too.



Well, that sounds a lot easier. I may yet yield to temptation.



I have read somewhere that there's now a cross between PFA and another
potato, creating a good-tasting potato with less tricky peeling. Have
you heard of this, or even tried it?

I wouldn't bother. Now, if there was a variety that were less
susceptible to blight, that might be a different matter. The two
disadvantages of PFA are that it needs a lot of space to straggle,
and that it is very sensitive to blight. In my experience, it
gives as good a crop as any of the other potatoes that taste of
anything, but of smaller tubers.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.



So far (fingers crossed), I haven't had a blight problem. I grow all my
potatoes in huge tubs, which seems to make them very clean soilwise,
slugwise and disease-wise. Hopefully, I can also cultivate PFAs without
problems. I'll read up on them. Thanks for your advice.
--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

Potatoes - thank you.
 

In article ,
Spider wrote:

Well, that sounds a lot easier. I may yet yield to temptation.

I can recommend them (PFA, that is).

So far (fingers crossed), I haven't had a blight problem. I grow all my
potatoes in huge tubs, which seems to make them very clean soilwise,
slugwise and disease-wise. Hopefully, I can also cultivate PFAs without
problems. I'll read up on them. Thanks for your advice.

Blight is airborne, so tubs aren't relevant. But they could help
against many other things.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Potatoes - thank you.
 

On 20/11/2013 17:06, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Spider wrote:

Well, that sounds a lot easier. I may yet yield to temptation.

I can recommend them (PFA, that is).

So far (fingers crossed), I haven't had a blight problem. I grow all my
potatoes in huge tubs, which seems to make them very clean soilwise,
slugwise and disease-wise. Hopefully, I can also cultivate PFAs without
problems. I'll read up on them. Thanks for your advice.

Blight is airborne, so tubs aren't relevant. But they could help
against many other things.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.




I knew it was airborne, but thought it could also be soilborne, too.
Either way, if I grow PFA it will be in tubs

--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

Potatoes - thank you.
 

"Derek Turner" wrote
Spider wrote:



So thanks very much from me and my friend.

Next year try Pink Fir Apple :)

They are a Marmite potato, you either love them or hate them. Wife hates the
taste so we don't grow any. The haulms are huge and flop over anything
nearby so they need more space between rows than normal spuds, strange hairy
rots too.


--
Regards
Bob Hobden

Potatoes - thank you.
 

On 20/11/2013 17:49, Bob Hobden wrote:

"Derek Turner" wrote
Spider wrote:



So thanks very much from me and my friend.

Next year try Pink Fir Apple :)

They are a Marmite potato, you either love them or hate them.



Oh dear. Perhaps I'd better try some shop bought ones before I grow
any. I'll ask RG if he's ever tried any in a restaurant - he used to be
bought lots of lovely lunches when he was working.


Wife hates
the taste so we don't grow any. The haulms are huge and flop over
anything nearby so they need more space between rows than normal spuds,
strange hairy rots too.



Those strange hairy rots sound a bit worrying ;~)). No doubt I'll learn
to cope with them.
--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay