Sharpe's Express

[sususanan]

Without much thought, I bought a bag of Sharpe's Express potatoes from Wilko this morning. I looked them up when I got home and found contradictory information about the potato. One site says it tasty, the others says it flavourless If you've ever grown them, are they tasty or not?

[Green Aura]

I've not grown them - we tend not to grow first earlies this far North. They take the same length of time as maincrops! As we're above the blight belt it's easier to just grow maincrops.

I see what you mean about mixed reviews though. Amongst the reports I looked at they were described as tubular or pear-shaped, white flesh or yellow flesh, good all-rounders (for cooking) or only for roasting as they fall apart on boiling etc. Almost as if they were talking about two completely different varieties.

[Flo]

They must be popular around here - none of the garden centres stock them.

[sususanan]

Perhaps they're the type the only sell at cheaper places like Wilko and pound shops. One site I checked on said they were only worth growing if you were interested in heritage-type potatoes as they weren't much good overall. I was hoping to get Swift or Kestrel that I planted last year and one of them was a really tasty potato - it might have been the one with purple markings, but they had neither of those.

[sususanan]

No, I stopped by a proper garden centre today and saw they were selling the Sharpe's Express. The brand was Taylor's and despite the contradictory limitations seen on websites, the card on these said "Sharpe's Express is a versatile, first early potato with a distinctive flavour", and stated they were a good all rounder. Also to note, the already chitting Wilko quality ones were five in a pack for £1 while the Taylor's brand from a specialised garden centre quality had 10 seed potatoes in a pack for... £2.

[sususanan]

I'm trying to grow them without earthing up. So far I've only had black weed suppressing fabric over them held up a bit with canes, like a tent. Does anyone else grow potatoes without earthing up? I've also been digging up a few rogue potato plants growing from last year's and they're covered with white dots - will it be safe to plant potato seeds in the same area? The garden centre was selling Kestral seed potato at half price, so I got some but I don't want to plant them if I can't eat them.

[Flo]

You are supposed to plant crops in different beds each year to stop the build up of diseases.

[sususanan]

is that why there were the white spots in the residual potatoes that were growing?

[Twizzle]

Hi, I grew Sharpe's Express this year as a complete newbie. I didn't earth them up, and a few were too green to use, but most were fine. They had a lovely flavour, but they did fall apart on the boil. We like them re-fried, also good for roasting or mash.