There are three growing seasons for potatoes:
* New Potatoes, or earlies
* Second earlies
* Maincrop
*Early potatoes* are planted from January to March and are ready for
digging from May-July.
*Second earlies* are planted between February and May and harvested from
July to October.
*Maincrop* *potatoes* are planted in April and harvesting is in
September and October.
Second earlies and maincrop can be stored over the winter.
There are many different varieties of potatoes, with new ones being
produced each year. The varying characteristics are:
# texture
# shape
# skin colour
# flesh colour
Click on the image below to enlarge a chart showing the character of the
most popular varieties.
The texture of the potato effects the cooking, so that different
textures are more appropriate for certain methods of cooking, roasting,
boiling etc..
For a pdf of characters of potato varieties, complete the contact form asking for a copy of the pdf of characters of potato varieties, & we will email it to you.
Potatoes fall into two different types:
Floury potatoes have cells that tend to separate and that break down easily when cooked
Waxy potatoes have cells that are more firmly held together and stay
relatively firm when cooked.
To check the type: mix one part salt to 11 parts water in a measuring jug and
add the potato. The floury one will sink& the waxy one will float.
Texture Scale – Waxy=1 Floury =10
2 nadine
3 cara, marfona
4 charlotte, estima, nicola, saxon, wilja
5 desiree, maris peer, maris piper, romano
6 king edward, sante
Waxy potatoes keep their shape after cooking, so they are good for making potato salads or for eating early in the season. They are not good for mashing, baking, or making chips.
Examples of waxy potatoes: Charlotte, Pink Fir Apple, new potatoes and salad potatoes.
New potatoes are immature potatoes harvested in�spring and early
summer.�Examples of waxy new potatoes: Jersey Royal, most salad potatoes, Record, Rocket.
Floury potatoes are good for mashing, frying, baking and for chips. They are good for boiling/steaming too – BUT you must stand over them whilst they are cooking, otherwise they will fall apart.� Examples of floury potatoes: Golden Wonder, British Queen, Maris Piper, Edzell Blue, Shetland Black.
Today the covers were taken off the early broad beans & placed over the
recently planted seeds.
cover-off-beans
*Honey bees & bumble bees were buzzing about under the polythene,
fertilising the bean flowers.
bee-on-bean-flower
*In gardens exposed to winds, the beans will have to be secured, so that
they do not blow about.
support-beans
bean-with-stake
*Battered plants will loose too much moisture, bruise leaves and loosen
& damage roots.
*The beans can be loosely tied to stakes with string.
tie-bean-to-stake
*If the stems are not fastened, all investment in time & effort in
bringing the plants to this stage will be wasted. Spending time tieing
the beans up will ensure a good harvest.
*The soil between the broad bean rows was hoed. Constant hoeing of the
soil, is quick and easy, if done when the weeds are tiny.
hoe-beans
A hoe will remove weeds, and allow the vegetables to grow without competition.
hoeing-shallots
It is easier to hoe the weeds when they are very small, before the
roots have grown to anchor them in the soil.
The first leaves to emerge from a seed are called cotyledons. Try to hoe
weeds at this stage. Hoe as soon as you see weeds emerging, then it does
not become a chore.
Make life easy & leave the hoe at the end of the veg plot, so you can
pick it up as you go to inspect the vegetables.
Hoe when the soil is dry. Then the weeds will die quickly.
Make the rows wider than the hoe, so hoeing can be quick with no fear
of chopping up the vegetables.
Hoe shallow
* to make it easy
* to avoid disturbing the roots of the vegetables
* shallow hoeing is possible if hit weeds early
The ideal hoe is sharp & shiny, so the soil does not stick to it. A
good quality stainless steel hoe will keep shiny & sharp. Most people do
not have time to maintain tools – so get a good one, that will look
after itself.
Most rain water falls in the winter, so now is the time to collect it.
As our climate changes & an increasing proportion of rain falls in
winter, it is becoming cost effective to invest in water storage.
Take precautions to avoid a setback in the garden during a cold spell:
* move tender potted plants inside
* cover delicate plants in the garden with polythene, cloches, old
curtains, conifer branches, horticultural fleece
* delay buying plants
* mulch to keep warmth in soil
Work the soil:
* dry, cold conditions are ideal for cultivating – soil structure
will be maintained
* prepare seed beds, by knocking the soil into small crumbs
apical – the apex or tip
bolt -instead of producing the vegetable desired, the plant ‘bolts’ into maturity, flowers, & produces seed during the summer instead of the normal root.
brassica - member of the cabbage family. Used as veg for:
chit – sprouts that grow out of the eyes of potatoes
F1 - is the product of a careful and deliberate cross of two different ’strains’ and will produce plants that are uniform and have particular charateristics, eg very straight runner beans, or bright orange courgettes. F1 means first filial generation.
Groundkeepers – potatoes remaining in the soil after harvest. These can be pea-size, or larger tubers which were damaged and discarded.
hardening off – getting plants used to the colder conditions outside. Usually done by putting the plants outside in a sheltered spot during the day, for a few days. Then putting them out for 24hrs a day in a sheltered spot, covering them if the forecast is bad.
haulm – the green leaves and stalks of potatoes
hoe - a hand tool used to scrape the soil. It is made up of a sharp metal blade, attached to a long handle.
leggy – spindly, usually means the plant is not getting enough light.
module – a tiny, self-contained unit of peat or compost – seeds are planted in them, and when they have germinated and grown into little seedlings, the module can be taken out of its container and planted into a pot, or into the garden soil.
mulch is something which covers the ground completely, in a thick layer, without any gaps.
open pollinated plants are varieties that� grow true from seed. This means they are capable of producing seeds from this seasons plants, which will produce seedlings that will be just like the parent plant.
senescence – senescence is when the green leaves and stalks start to die down.
transplant – move a plant from one pot to another or into the garden itself.
tuber – is an underground stem which has thickened to form a storage organ. A potato is a good example.
volunteer – a plant growing of its own accord. It has not been planted or invited. Volunteers are usually remains of a previous crop and harbour disease.
Most potatoes naturally produce one main chit (sprout). This is apical dominance.
The eye at the rose end of the potato (ie furthest from where the potato was
attached to its parent plant) is dominant. This dominant eye is at the ‘apical’
end of the tuber, & it supresses the sprouting of other eyes.
Is it better to plant a potato with one main chit, or lots of chits?
One main chit will produce fewer larger tubers.For early potatoes, this will bring an earlier harvest.
Knocking off the main chit, desprouting, may result in more stems and smaller tubers, because apical dominance is eliminated.
Cutting tubers into pieces breaks apical dominance between eyes, releasing eyes to sprout.
Other factors will effect sprouting:
Chitting:
Chit for early harvested yield.
When planting chitted tubers:
Don’t try to use potatoes from the vegetable section of the supermarket because they may be diseased, and they probably have been sprayed with a chemical to inhibit sprouting.
The dandelions are out, so it is time to check the bee hives.
The bee colony is inspected to see if the Queen Bee is still there. She
may not have survived the winter.
The colony cannot manage without a queen. So, a queenless colony can be
put into a hive which has a queen. The hive will benefit by having more
workers available to forage.
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