TopVeg – growing veg,fruit&herbs

March 2, 2012

Jelly Potato Variety

Filed under: potato — Tags: — TopVeg @ 9:23 pm

The Jelly potato variety is another example of a new variety which is exclusive & not available to the small home grower in the UK.   Jelly potatoes are exclusive to Greenvale who will be selling them to Tesco as their Farm Fresh Brand.

The Jelly Potatoes are:

  • buttery in flavour
  • creamy in texture
  • high yielding
  • short oval tubers
  • smooth shinny yellow skin
  • yellow fleshed
  • bred in Germany
  • medium early potatoes
  • resistant to most diseases 

Jelly is an interesting new potato variety which is not yet available for the home vegetable gardener.

Searching for the Ultimate Potato

Filed under: potato — Tags: — TopVeg @ 8:23 pm

Janette is searching for the ultimate potato variety!

In her mind, the ultimate potato is:

  • waxy
  • yellow
  • sweet
  • early
  • with a fine skin – not thick and grainy
  • good in salads, sauteed, and boiled

If anyone has any suggestions for a potato variety which fits the bill please contact us & we will let Janette know.

Do you agree with her wish list?   What is your idea of the ultimate potato…..

March 1, 2012

Exquisa Potato

Filed under: potato — Tags: , , — TopVeg @ 8:16 pm
Exquisa is a new variety of potato.  The supermarkets try hard to keep exclusivity of the latest entrants on the market and the seed is kept under wraps.
 
Janette has asked TopVeg if we know of any suppliers of Exquisa potato seed.  I have spent ages looking for a supplier without success. 
Charlton Park Garden Centre sold it last year, but not this.  I wonder why?
The Exquisa variety was bred in Holland in 1997- and seems to be easier to find there! 
.
Exquisa Characteristics:
  • yellow flesh
  • smooth skin
  • oval shape
  • small to medium size
  • very high yielding
  • fairly firm texture on cooking
  • multi-purpose or salad type

If anyone knows where to find some Exquisa potato seed please do contact us!

February 26, 2012

Optica Broad Beans

Filed under: pea&beans — Tags: , , — TopVeg @ 6:55 pm

Optica is an excellent modern variety of broad beans.  They have masses of pods and are very productive.

Optica-broad-bean-pods

Optica-broad-bean-pods

To Sow Optica Broad Beans:

  • sow outdoors from February to June
  • 10cm/ 4inches apart
  • rows 60cm/24inches apart
  • click this link to buy seed from Unwins

Optica broad beans  have a compact growing habit which make them ideal for small gardens, where space is at a premium.  They are lower growing than many broad beans but still need staking.

broad-bean-plant-Optica

broad-bean-plant-Optica

Optica broad beans produce medium length pods with 4 or 5  white beans per pod.

open-pod-Optica-broad-bean

open-pod-Optica-broad-bean

The pods are quite tender & if picked when very young the pods can also be eaten.

optica-broad-bean-plant

optica-broad-bean-plant

Optica has a good flavour and the beans freeze well.

February 11, 2012

How Not to Grow Potatoes

Filed under: potato — Tags: , , , — TopVeg @ 10:45 pm
snow-on-vegetable-patch

snow-on-vegetable-patch

This example of how not to grow potatoes has proved rather successful. We tried it last year and it worked then, too.
Instead of lifting potatoes before the first frost and storing them in nice Hessian bags, we have left them in the ground.

tray-holding-plastic-down

tray-holding-plastic-down

We have covered them over with a blue plastic sheet to keep some frost off – and the snow, hopefully, has provided some insulation.

We lifted some Kestrel today, after pulling the sheet back.

plastic-pulled-back

plastic-pulled-back

We dug 2.5kg of Kestrel potatoes (the gardener said it was just from one side of the root!)

2.5kg-Kestrel-potatoes

2.5kg-Kestrel-potatoes

The skins do look a bit scabby, but the skin scraped off easily and left a clean potato.

KestrelPotatoes

KestrelPotatoes

They do taste good!  Kestrel are a second early.  Click this link to buy some Kestrel seed potatoes.

But there is a risk to this strategy.  If the frost gets down into the potatoes they will go soft and to mulch when they thaw out, rendering them useless.  But we had a good 5C degrees of frost last night and the soil was still quite warm.  Last year after a prolonged period of very cold weather we did loose one or two.  So this exercise is definitely an example of how not to grow potatoes!

November 7, 2011

Doyenne du Comice Pear

Filed under: fruit — Tags: , — 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

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

ComicePear

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

May 4, 2011

Swift Early Potato

Filed under: potato — Tags: , , , , — 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!

March 12, 2011

Spunta Potato Variety

Filed under: potato — Tags: — 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.

March 4, 2011

Early (or new) potato varieties

Filed under: potato — Tags: , , , — 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 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 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 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

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

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.

March 31, 2010

Leek Variety Bandit F1 hybrid

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

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

Bandit-leeks-growing

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

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

bandit-cleaned-leek

Recipes for Bandit Leeks:

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

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