Grow Your Own Magazine

Potatoes that is....

I planted Desiree back in late March and went out for a fertle last night, I wasnt expecting them to be ready for a couple more weeks yet, so what a shock I got when they turned out to be the size of house bricks!!!

I weighed one and it was 2 lbs.....

Is this normal for desiree?

It's been a strange year climatically this year so nothing would surprise me! They make wonderful baked potatoes , so enjoy!

__________________
My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Cool! I planted desiree at the start of April. I'm going to dig some up later just to see!

__________________
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
Max Ehrmann, Desiderata

blog: http://allyheebiejeebie.blogspot.com/ and my (basic!) page: http://www.allythegardener.co.uk/

I mashed some last night and they were very tasty....I thought about baking thme but decided it may take about 3 hours!!

Will try it tonight....

Very weird year so far. I cant get any of my courgettes to grow well and my broad beans were a disaster but my lettuce has gone loopy! Its "pick and come again" which I planted in May and it is still getting biger and bigger despite picking every night!

Huge tomato plants (gardeners delight) btu very few fruits. Cucumbers look like they are going to be ok.

The thing to do is to bake an entire oven-shelf-full at one go. The spares keep well in the fridge, and you can reheat them in 20-30 minutes. (Or in one of those Micro Wave things, I understand...!) They do go a bit crispy, but I like 'em like that!

My Desiree were massive too! I planted them over a foot deep and 6" apart in trenches in early March and left them alone, not even earthing or watering. They were faultless and had no insect damage what so ever. The colour was an amazing hue of pink-red, unlike shop-bought pots and the crop was considerable.

So you planted into trenches and the shoots made it to the surface? I earthed up but still lost a few ot the sun (amazing condiering the weather)... I may try the trenches idea next year. I had a few with scab, which are still ok for mashing but not baking...

My early pots were huge too, all that water must be good for them. I haven't earthed any up, I just mulch them with grass clippings and then any weeds (esp. nettle) get thrown on top too.
I'm resisting digging up any Pink Fir until winter.... fingers crossed the blight stays away.

__________________
~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

A few failed, but I planted so many pots that it didn't matter. I think that having them that bit deeper helped over the drier weather we had in spring.