Monday 15 February 2010

Spuddy

summer 03

Don't you just wish it was summer again?

Good old Alan Romans. I was about to complain about the non-arrival of my potato order and he mailed me this evening to say it's on its way. Well, when I say he mailed me, I don't really mean the man in person though who would know, but an official automated email was despatched to me along with the spuds.

This year, and I wasn't going to tell you until now in case there was a sudden flattering rush of imitations and my order couldn't be filled we're expecting;

Ambo -1kg, Arran Victory -1kg, British Queen -1kg, International Kidney -1kg, Mayan Queen -1kg, Pink Fir Apple -1kg and Stroma -1kg. Not as many as last year, we had such a good crop that I think a lot will be wasted so I'm going to try and match supply a little more closely to demand this year. Also I'm flirting with the idea of using a few of our own Sarpo Mira from last year. We really didn't have any blight and they are keeping well. We'd probably get away with it.

Nothing very unusual in the selection, the only novelty items are the Mayan Queens, described by Alan as a Solanum phureja hybrid, not long keeping but with good texture and flavour. The Phurejas are just one of several potato species that have been cultivated in the Andes for generations and have resistance to some forms of blight. They have not been widely available in Europe until breeders started to use them in programmes to improve blight resistance. It will be interesting to see how they do.

Now wasn't that exciting! What potatoes will you be planting this year?

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