spuds

Alan4711

Can i ask, our spuds this year (our first) were not good,now because we live in different areas do the spuds tend to taste different due to different soils and different growing ideas or are they supposed to be Relatively Uniform as many of sup/markets are mostly, and do the large growers suffer from some huge spuds off the same plant as the nice more regular small better tasting ones,it seems to me that choice is great but planting spuds each year trying to find a good early takes far to many seasons ,so would,nt it be a good idea if this site could sort of find the right spuds for the right areas, im moving to Norfolk ,lots of spuds so i intend to visit the growers for info and talk to the allotmenteers and will post their answers asai can , Alan

fidgetbones

Jersey royals are international kidney. But the best ones are grown in soil that is heavily top dressed with seaweed. I think they keep those for themselves. The mass produced one in the supermarkets are not as the dirty ones I remember, when you could see how new they were by rubbing them. If the skin didn't come off easy, they weren't new enough.

 Potatoes these days get graded. A certain size for the bakers, sold separately. Small ones sold as "new"potatoes even though they maybe six months old. All the odd ones sold as economy potatoes.

 For me, the best possible roasting potatoes come from Edzell blue.  If you boil them they disintegate, but if you just roll them in a little sunflower oil, and cook in oven, they are fantastic. You will never find these in a supermarket, they are not multipurpose enough.

Welshonion

Alan I did point you towards a place, not too far from you, where you could buy just a few seed potatoes of many varieties. Do not be constricted to buying seed potatoes in pre-packs. We have quite a small raised bed for potatoes, but we grow at least three varieties each year.  They do vary very much.

The taste, shape, yield is very much down to variety. I'm sure you'll find a similar garden centre in Norfolk. 

Zoomer44

Alan. I find the way you cook different varieties makes a difference and brings out the taste of the spud. New potatoes are better left in their skins, some spuds are better mashed, others boiled, steamed or roasted.   

I don't think it's as simple as finding the right spud for the right area although asking other growers what grows best for them in your own locality is a good place to start if you want a succesful crop in the ground but there's soil type, and, weather conditions to take into account which is variable every year. Blight doesn't seem to have been a problem this year either but can be if we get a hot humid summer.

I grow spuds in bags which means you can make up your own growing medium and control how much water the spuds get, then there are so many different varieties, part of the fun in growing for me is trying different varieties and I like to grow several different one's each year.

Edzell blue are nice roasted. Grew those last year but I can't grow Charlotte even though they seem to be universally easy peazy to grow and a lot of posters rave about them, mine are small, bland and whether steamed or boiled they disintegrate in the pot.      

I'm in the NW and would say Charlotte has been the only one which I've had trouble with, it grows ok but doesn't cook well.