After visiting our local garden centre’s potato day a couple of weeks ago we added six new varieties of potatoes to grow this year. I've decided that they would all neatly fit into our potato bed on plot 42 keeping all our new experimental varieties together. Our provisional layout of beds on plot 42 with our planned crops for this year is shown in each of the four beds in the plan below.
These beds follow a simple four year rotation with each crop moving round one bed in a clockwise direction every year.Our trial potato varieties with a few details of each are listed below.
For the moment the tubers have been placed in the greenhouse to stop the tiny green shoots becoming leggy. The tubers will remain in the greenhouse until planting time in early April - weather conditions permitting.
They've been covered with a few layers of fleece as protection against frosty nights before planting time.
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I've grown blue/purple skinned potatoes - they are exceptionally hard to find in the wet soil when you try to dig them up in the rain! However, the coloured flesh types do make very vivid blue mash (the colour survives cooking unlike purple beans) which adds 'interest' to the plate.
ReplyDeleteI really like these potato events that offer a big choice in small quantities - last year we grew 7 different varieties, including 5 new to us varieties. Will be interested in your opinions on your choices once they get to the table, as they are all new to me too.
Haven't got the nerve to go completely blue with potatoes just yet. Unless you know something different I'm expecting Blue Belle to have eyes tinged with blue and normal potato coloured flesh despite its name. I hadn't thought about the problems of harvesting blue coloured potatoes in dark wet soil.
DeleteThe trouble with potato days is I could carry on picking new varieties to try!