“What I say is that, if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.” A.A. Milne
I like potatoes. Baked, chipped, mashed or roasted. One of the many advantages of having an allotment is having space to grow them. I have done so in the past at home with small row, in pots or in a deep bed but these vegetables do seem to like the wide open spaces that plot 106 allows. Last year down there I grew variety Charlotte as my earlies (they are technically a second early) https://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/vegetable/potatoes/variety-charlotte.php and they were really good. Good with salads and good enough to roast. Will be growing them again this year. For my maincrop potatoes I chose Picasso and I will be growing them again https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/potato-picasso/tka8402TM as they were lovely bakers and mashed. I began lifting late August and they were of good size then. This year I am also growing some first earlies and a second choice for maincrop. I read a few years ago that variety Rocket https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/potato-rocket/zww5094TM were the earliest potatoes to lift. I have tried them two years running in a deep bed at my home garden and in containers there. They did extremely well. So they are on plot 106 already, I put in a a couple of cheeky short rows this week! The extra maincrop is Desiree https://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/vegetable/potatoes/variety-desiree.php probably well known to everybody reading this. A beautiful red skinned variety To minimise the risks to those Rocket potatoes, they went in to ground covered for about a month that is nice and dry and ready for planting. The tubers were well chitted and once in had a covering of compost before the soil went back over. I have banked them up to mitigate against any severe frost this month. I think they will be off to a very good start I am very new to allotment growing and this growing season is my second full year so I am learning my trade but already I have a hard and fast rule about potatoes. To get the main crops out, dried off and in store by mid September. These two years have produced biblical amounts of rain in late September and October. Should there be an Indian Summer this year I will be sat on the bench on 106 knowing my spuds are lifted, enjoying the late season heat and probably looking forward to a jacket potato, or two for tea !
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AuthorI launched this website on 16th August 2020 to bring together my thoughts on gardening,, its importance for health and wellbeing and two projects running concurrently, a renovation of my own garden on the West Sussex coast at Lancing and a nearby allotment. But also to learn from other gardeners about the inspirations for their plots, about their gardening projects and enjoyment of beautiful plants and gardens Archives
February 2024
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