potatoes ...

[Nicos]

We steam our waxy potatoes most of the time- it seems to bring out the flavour more!

[nick the grief]

We steam our waxy potatoes most of the time- it seems to bring out the flavour more!

but you're posh and have a fleet of servants to do it for you ...

[Nicos]

but you're posh and have a fleet of servants to do it for you ...

I know….but one does hear gossip of these things from the scullery maid

[Penellype]

I've tried various varieties over the years and always come back to the same 3 - Lady Christl (1st early but grows bigger if you leave it in the ground), Charlotte and Desiree. Of the others I have tried, Rocket was very early with big crops but largely tasteless, Arran Pilot was ok but not as nice as Lady C, Nicola was ok but not as nice as Charlotte, Sarpo Axona was ok but too floury for my taste, and Sarpo Mira produced huge crops of enormous potatoes which kept through to the following June, but were nowhere near as nice as Desiree.

[Bren In Pots]

Nick i always steam my potatoes its something my mum did, either using in a basket that pops in the pan or streamer that goes on top of the pan.

I’ve found potatoes rarely break up or go mushy when they’re steamed.

[Derbydal]

I grew Charlots ,Maris Peer, Pink Fir, Cultra, and Mozart reds and to be honest it's been my worst year growing spuds, apart from a late row of Charlots and the two rows of Pink Firs , don't get me wrong there where plenty of spuds but small, I don't water my spuds , what's others thoughts on this and if so how often ?

[ameno]

I grew Charlots ,Maris Peer, Pink Fir, Cultra, and Mozart reds and to be honest it's been my worst year growing spuds, apart from a late row of Charlots and the two rows of Pink Firs , don't get me wrong there where plenty of spuds but small, I don't water my spuds , what's others thoughts on this and if so how often ?

Lack of water could be the issue, either from actual lack of irrigation, or perhaps from planting too close together.
Lack of nutrient may also be a possibility. Did you feed before planting? And how much leaf did they put on?

The other thing to bear in mind is that you can control the size of the potatoes to an extent by controlling the number of sprouts the tuber has at planting time. Each sprout will grow into a separate stem, each of which will bear multiple tubers, so more stems mean more, but smaller, potatoes (preferable for salad potatoes), whereas fewer stems means fewer, but larger, potatoes (preferable for baking or roasting).
So for potatoes for which you want fewer, larger tubers, try rubbing off all but two or three sprouts when you plant them.