Spuds again

[Millymollymandy]

My spud patch looks very sad so I don't know if I am supposed to dig them all up now to store or leave them in the ground for a bit longer. The new potatoes are ready but we have only eaten one row and there is still 1 1/2 rows left.

The 2nd earlies still have a bit of green left on some plants but others are just a brown collapsed mess.

I'm still not sure whether it means they are ready to eat or they are just suffering from the drought! It's been practically impossible to keep watering them and despite a straw mulch I can actually see a green potato sticking out of the soil . They just keep rising up - whether it is my soil or what I don't know but I earthed them up by about 30cm but the spuds are right at the top of that mound!

So should I dig them all up or will they keep in the soil for the time being (bearing in mind there are some chafer grubs having a munch on some of them)? Also bearing in mind there is no-where cool to store them at the moment except my living room or bathroom on the ground floor!!!

[ina]

I don't really think you can win either way this year. I would dig them up, they won't grow anymore if they are brown already, but as you have already noticed there are grubs, they'll only get eaten them if you leave them in the ground...

I had a similar problem last year - my potatoes had blight, and I had to get them all out early. They don't keep well at all in that state, so I started collecting recipes for anything that uses potatoes: potato cake, bread, gnocchi (did I spell that right?), fritters, plus all the usual suspects. That way I worked myself through the worst affected spuds first, although I still had to through some out, and was lucky enough to have some left in March (resistant variety). But at least I don't have the problem of lack of cool places for storage!

Ina

[Millymollymandy]

Hmmmmmm, spud recipes, anyone? Am I going to put on weight?

[Wombat]

Potato ice cream?

Nev

[ina]

Well, yeah, why not? I was amazed how little the potato cake tastes like potatoes!

I'll go and find my recipes and post them tonight. (If I can tear myself away from beastie-hunting in the garden...)

Ina

[Magpie]

Back to the growing rather than the eating...

I think this is a great example for why we should grow lots of varieties (If you have the space) Surely one variety wouldn't mind the adverse conditions so much. With my spuds last year, I had them in a newly sheet-mulched bed, and we had the wettest summer I can remember. My Old Blues went crazy, obviously loved it, while my Pink Fir Apples just sat there. Other varieties had differing results, too.

So, no monoculture, please!

[Millymollymandy]

I have two varieties but I've got far too many spuds as it is and you can't buy them in bags of fewer than 25 seed potatoes - and the smaller the bag, the more expensive!!!

Yesterday I dug up most of the remaining Belle de Fontenay (earlies) and they are great though very big for new potatoes. Planted 25 of them. Dug up a Bintje (2nd early) and they are totally naff - small and covered with funny marks on the skin. I've got about 75 of these plants.

I won't be earthing up spuds in future as you just can't get water to sit on top of a huge mound, all I'm watering is the gullies.

[ina]

Don't you know anybody in the area you can share the seed potatoes with? I must admit, neither last year nor this did I buy any myself (although I kept looking at them in the shops!), as my friend had already bought them and had far too many. And most of the garden centres around here sell them loose, which is brilliant.

My varieties succumbed to the blight at differing stages last year, and after picking some of them were rotten already while others lasted a few months. So yes, it's good to have a range of varieties. This year I have two supposedly blight resistant ones, can't remember their names , and a few odd-bods.

MMM, if those funny marks on the skin are scab (very common), that's not too dangerous. I still eat them with their skins, if the marks are not too bad.

Normally watering the gullies is just what you'd want to do, as that way they grow down rather than up towards the water. But I seem to remember that you have very free-draining soil, so the water just goes down anyway... Can't win. We've had 2mm of rain this morning . Not really enough yet, but it keeps the dust down.

Ina

[Muddypause]

Is it possible to grow potatoes from the fruit seed of the plant?

I've never heard of this being done, and there may be good reasons for that, but letting a plant go to seed, and then storing the seeds may be a way round having to buy too many sprouting tubers.

[ina]

It is possible, but... Check out this:

http://www.growseed.org/potato-breeding.html

From what I can see, they take longer to grow, have smaller and fewer tubers, and I believe the genes split up in the seeds, i.e. you don't really know what the result will be. On the other hand, diseases are less likely to be transferred. So it's something that is really mainly done by professional breeders.

It would be fun to try, though!

Ina

[Chickenlady]

How about making this:
LEEK AND POTATO BAKE

1/2 lb. Organic Potatoes
2 medium Organic Leeks
250ml Single Cream
2 medium Organic Free-Range Eggs
1/2 cup Grated Cheese/ Breadcrumbs
Salt and Pepper to taste

Peel and slice the potatoes. Clean the leeks by slicing then lengthways and fan them out under running water. Slice these also. Layer the potatoes and the leeks in a greased baking dish, sprinkling a little salt and pepper over each layer. Mix the cream and eggs together in a separate bowl. Pour over the ingredients in the baking dish. Sprinkle some cheese and/or breadcrumbs on top. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft and the top is browned. Tip: This recipe is adaptable for Vegans. Simply take out the eggs and replace the cream with readily available Soya Cream. Add some onions and mushrooms to the dish to intensify the flavour. Very tasty!

I got it from: www.abel-cole.co.uk/Content/Recipes/Potatoes.

Haven't tried it yet, but it does look really nice. Problem is you won't have any leeks yet - Wonder if onions would do? Maybe some nice fat spring onions?

[Millymollymandy]

Ina - I've just googled Scab and that's what it is - but it's only superficial scab and comes off with the skin and isn't on all of the spuds. Apparently light soils are more prone to it and lack of soil moisture doesn't help! Then again if you get too much moisture you get blight......

I dug up another Bintje yesterday and that was much better - a couple of reasonable sized spuds with the little 'uns so I guess every plant is going to be different!

They were wonderful curried - fluffy and yummy, must say one of my best potato curries yet. So all is not lost and I should stop moaning! Now I have to think about storage (hey I just found a use for the paper cat litter sacks!!!!!).

[Millymollymandy]

I had another thought and I think the reason my spud plants "rose up" when I earthed them was in search of the surface moisture. The spuds were all in the top 6" of soil and I planted them a good 8" below that!!!

[ina]

My father often grew Bintje, and they were the best potatoes I knew. And we had very light soil, too, so they seem to like that.

You might be right about them growing towards the water. That's why you are supposed to water the plant hole or ditch rather than the top of the soil when planting/sowing. But of course with free draining soil it disappears down towards Australia in no time, anyway...

Ina

[Lyds]

Have just lifted my spuds. From a patch of ground 6' x 3' using 10 seed pots have lifted 10 1/2 lb. Is that good or not? Most of them are a nice size and none are spoiled. I grew Charlotte as they are a nice salad potato but I wasn't sure what quantity to expect as I havn't grown spuds since before the kids.....