variety « TopVeg – growing veg,fruit&herbs

November 7, 2011

Doyenne du Comice Pear

Filed under: fruit — Tags: pear, variety — TopVeg @ 8:49 pm

Doyenne du Comice is one of the finest eating pear varieties. Comice is often grown against a wall in the UK, and the delicious, juicy ripe pear just melts in the mouth.

Comice-Pear

The Doyenne du Comice pear fruit is

large
broad
an irregular shape
yellow in colour, with a greenish tinge and a scattering of red brown spots and blotches
very juicy with creamy white flesh
aromatic with a tangy, sweet flavour

ComicePear

Gardening Direct will supply Comice Pear Trees. The Doyenne du Comice is known as the Queen of the Pears.

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May 4, 2011

Swift Early Potato

Filed under: potato — Tags: early, new, potato, swift, variety — TopVeg @ 8:55 am

Les told me last night that he was going to ‘try’ some of his Swift early potatoes next week. I was impressed!

He said he always grows Swift & has the first boiling in early May! Here are some of the secrets I picked up:

· Swift are the earliest variety, ready within 7 weeks of planting

· Les plants Swift in January

· He grows them in flower buckets

· The buckets are kept in the greenhouse all the time

· Swift only have short tops, so don’t fall over

· Les pulls the plant out of the bucket, picks of the largest potatoes & returns the plant to the bucket to continue growing!

Swift is ‘The earliest early” according to the British Potato Council variety database.

Characteristics of Potato Variety:

· exceptionally early maturing potato variety

· good yields

· attractive, medium sized potatoes

· good skins

· good cooking quality

Click this link to buy Swift new potatoes from Unwins

Swift is a very early potato variety!

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March 12, 2011

Spunta Potato Variety

Filed under: potato — Tags: variety — TopVeg @ 9:54 pm

The variety of potatoes called Spunta is a second early.
Spunta potatoes have:

long tubers
shallow depth of eyes
white skin
light yellow flesh
good resistance to late blight on foliage

Don has contacted TopVeg to say:

“ they taste really good, too. I am off to buy some Spunta seed today. The local farmers tipped me to place the starts in a lightproof box for about two weeks to get them to sprout. Then plant them. The only reason why they are not more widely grown is short storage time, so I grow them in planting stages throughout the growing season and consume them before they can go bad. I had fresh potatoes through January. They grow quickly.”

Thank you Don for sharing your experience of the Spunta potato variety.

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March 4, 2011

Early (or new) potato varieties

Filed under: potato — Tags: early, new, potatoes, variety — TopVeg @ 8:13 pm

Early (or new) potato varieties 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.

Examples of early potato varieties are:
Ultra-Early Potato – Lady Christl

LadyChrstll-new-potatoes

* high yielding
* numerous uniform attractive tubers
* good all round disease resistance, although it is slightly susceptible to Foliage Blight
* excellent cooking qualities & great flavour

Extra Early Salad Potato – Rocket

rocket-potatoes

* firm, waxy texture tubers
* good for chipping
* responds well under polythene
* best under long day length conditions of Northern Europe

Very early – Winston

* good yields
* bold white tubers
* a very short growing season
* good drought and heat tolerance
* powdery scab resistance
* masher, chips,bake,roast

First Early Potato – Sharpes Express

* low resistance to dry rot, late blight on foliage and late blight on tubers

First Early Potato – Red Duke of York

* low resistance to late blight on foliage, late blight on tubers, common scab, potato leafroll virus and potato virus Yo .

First Early Potato – Maris Bard

Maris-Bard-new-potatoes

TopVeg favourite!

* high yielding and early bulking
* good resistance to potato virus Y, gangrene, potato leaf roll virus, drought, damage and bruising
* moderately susceptible to spraing, powdery scab
* susceptible to potato cyst nematode
* medium dry matter with good boiling and frying quality
* good all round cooker

Second Early Potato – British Queen

* round tubers
* white skin

Second Early Potato – Charlotte

charlotte potato

* moderate yields
* uniform, smooth skinned tubers
* high resistance to foliage and tuber blight
* susceptible to potato cyst nematode
* medium dry matter
* waxy cooked texture
* salad potato

Second Early Potato – Kestrel

kestrel-potato-variety

* good yields of very attractive, long oval, coloured tubers
* good all round cooking quality
* good chipping potential, particularly early in the season

Second Early Potato – Edzell Blue

* heritage variety
* very floury texture
* mashes & bakes well, though difficult to boil
* best known blue- skinned variety

Early (or new) potato varieties mature in 8 to 10 weeks, so are the first to be ready for eating.

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March 31, 2010

Leek Variety Bandit F1 hybrid

Filed under: root veg — Tags: leek, variety — TopVeg @ 7:49 pm

The leek variety, Bandit F1 hybrid, has been a great success in the TopVeg garden.

Bandit-leeks-growing

We have been harvesting Bandit leeks since Christmas & they are still providing the kitchen with very tasty vegetables. Bandit survived the very cold, snowy weather and not one plant has bolted.

Leek-Bandit-in-ground

Characteristics of Leek – Bandit F1 Hybrid:

crops : November-April
winter hardy
rarely bolts
rust resistant
dark green leaves
pure white, thick stems
excellent flavour

bandit-cleaned-leek

Recipes for Bandit Leeks:

The leek variety, Bandit F1 hybrid, is exceptional, and well worth growing.

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March 23, 2010

Lincolnshire Scad Plum

Filed under: Uncategorized, fruit — Tags: plum, variety — TopVeg @ 6:09 am

The Lincolnshire Scad is an old, but rare, variety of plum.

Lincolnshire Scad Plums are:

- small - marble size
- orange on one side and yellow the other
- ripen very late - in November
- sweet

A Lincolnshire Scad plum tree:

- is actually a tall, thornless, bush
- spreads by suckers
- transplants easily
- has oval leaves - 5cm long & 3cm wide

Lincolnshire Scad Plums are traditionally mixed with apples in a Scad & Apple Pie. Does anyone have a photo of Lincolnshire Scad Plums?

Comments (1)

February 16, 2010

Vales Emerald Potato Variety

Filed under: potato — Tags: early, new, potato, seed, variety — TopVeg @ 11:00 pm

Vales Emerald is a popular, high yielding, first early potato variety which tastes good.

Vales Emerald :

produces a large number of new potatoes
matures quickly , making it a very early potato
is a Maris Peer x Charlotte cross
has red violet flowers

vales emerald potato seed

Vales Emerald potato tubers are:

round to oval

white skinned

cream fleshed

shallow eyed

firm & waxy

great tasting

Uses of Vales Emerald:

boil or steam
serve hot or cold
ideal salad potato

Click this link to buy some seed of the first early variety of potatoes Vales Emerald

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February 14, 2010

Potato Variety Accord – first early

Filed under: potato — Tags: container, early, potato, seed, variety — TopVeg @ 7:09 am

The recently launched potato variety Accord is a first early.

Accord potatoes are:

first early
disease resistant – Double eelworm resistant
high yielding
creamy fleshed
very tasty
easy to grow
ideal for containers, patio planters, a sunny balcony or roof terrace

Click this link to order some Accord seed potatoes, which are a first early variety.

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February 13, 2010

Potato Variety Premiere

Filed under: potato — Tags: early, potato, seed, variety — TopVeg @ 11:07 pm

The potato variety Premiere is a first early potato.

Premiere potatoes are:

first early
pale yellow-skinned
yellow fleshed
oval shape
firm and dry texture
good for chips, boiling, New Potatoes, & Salad Potato
golden eelworm resistant

Click this link to buy some seed poatoes, variety Premiere.

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February 7, 2010

Blue Danube Potato Variety

Filed under: Uncategorized, potato — Tags: potato, seed, variety — TopVeg @ 11:16 am

Blue Danube is an early maincrop potato variety. It was known as Adam Blue.

BlueDanubePotato

Properties of Blue Danube potato tubers:

blue/purple skinned
oval
bright white flesh
delicious
general culinary use

The Blue Danube potato variety has good resistance to:

blackleg
potato virus Yo
dry rot
potato leafroll virus
potato blight – tubers have excellent blight resistance, although the foliage has only moderate resistance.

Click this link to buy some Blue Danube potato seed, which is an early main crop variety.

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Older Posts »

November 7, 2011

May 4, 2011

Les told me last night that he was going to ‘try’ some of his Swift early potatoes next week. I was impressed!

He said he always grows Swift & has the first boiling in early May! Here are some of the secrets I picked up:

· Swift are the earliest variety, ready within 7 weeks of planting

· Les plants Swift in January

· He grows them in flower buckets

· The buckets are kept in the greenhouse all the time

· Swift only have short tops, so don’t fall over

· Les pulls the plant out of the bucket, picks of the largest potatoes & returns the plant to the bucket to continue growing!

Swift is ‘The earliest early” according to the British Potato Council variety database.

Characteristics of Potato Variety:

· exceptionally early maturing potato variety

· good yields

· attractive, medium sized potatoes

· good skins

· good cooking quality

Click this link to buy Swift new potatoes from Unwins

Swift is a very early potato variety!

March 12, 2011

March 4, 2011

March 31, 2010

March 23, 2010

February 16, 2010

February 14, 2010

The recently launched potato variety Accord is a first early.

February 13, 2010

February 7, 2010

Swift is a very early potato variety!