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| First Early Potato Trial plot, 2013 |
This is a post specifically for spud geeks. If you don't care deeply about taters, you might as well stop reading now. There's no satirical political comment. There's no shameless plugging of last summer's literary endeavours in lieu of gardening. There isn't even a back-handed attack on the malevolent influence on society of the Daily Mail, or a raised eyebrow that the BBC can pitch 'claimants' against 'taxpayers' in a recent prime-time expose, while simultaneously doling out vast sums of public money to overpaid buffoons such as the charmless Jeremy Clarkson, and millions more to failed executives. Okay, there's more than a raised eyebrow on that last point; I'm reaching for the proverbial pitchfork. But for now, back to the taters...
Crown Bank Allotment plot 2 First Early Potato trial 2013:
Three 'new' cultivars were put through their paces this year, using a fairly worked-out patch of ground. Six tubers each of 'Colleen', 'Cosmos' and 'Swift' were planted early in April and all three were lifted today, with the following results.
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| 'Colleen' potatoes |
First out were 'Colleen' - a clean-skinned, white potato with no sign of slug or other damage, most tubers being quite large (they have been lifted late, to be fair), but with no more than five or six potatoes per tuber. Having cooked some for lunch today, they have a floury texture and pleasant flavour, but fall to bits rather too readily to make a good potato salad spud.
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| 'Cosmos' - good-sized, disease-free tubers |
'Cosmos' were similar in appearance but gave an appreciably higher yield, with fewer small potatoes. All the tubers were disease-free and pretty clean of scab or other blemishes. Subject to the all-important taste test, they seem to be the best of three.
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| 'Swift' - frankly, a bit crap... |
'Swift' failed miserably; two of the original six plants were nowhere to be seen and the yield barely exceeded the number of spuds originally planted. They were also the only cultivar to show signs of scab. I won't bother with them again.
The plot is now in use for another trial - namely, to see whether 'Phaecelia' proves to be a good soil-improving green manure, as the ground here is thin and dusty, and desperately needs bulking up with some humus. Expect a preliminary report in a month or so.
In the meanwhile, I'll be very surprised if the Daily Mail doesn't tell us all the taters give you cancer...
