The weather has not been allotment-friendly of late. We had a lot of snow on Friday, which had turned to slush by Saturday, and now we have the delights of heavy rain and gales. Anyway, I thought it was best to start thinking about what to grow this year. Potatoes first....last year we grew, Sharpe's Express, Pentland Javelin, Pink Fir Apple, Kestrel, and Désirée.
The Sharpe's Express (above) and Pentland Javelin did well. Then disaster struck and we got blight (Potato Woes), so we had to move fast and dig everything up. The Désirée (above) did OK, but not fantastic as the potatoes were all on the small side. However, as you can see below the Kestrel and Pink Fir Apple crops were pretty disastrous.
So, what should I grow this year? After much umming and arring I plumped for Belana (first early), Shetland Black (second early), and Sarpo Mira (maincrop). I chose the Belana as I fancied growing a first early that I hadn't grown before, the Shetland Black because I like attempting to grow something unusual (and I thought the kids might be a little intrigued by their appearance), and the Sarpo Mira purely because of the fact that they are resistant to the evils of blight (as you may guess I am not feeling too optimistic about the weather this year!).
I will probably end up growing some other varieties also. Despite an extrememly disappointing harvest in 2012, my Pink Fir Apple's gave me a really good crop in 2011 and I love their odd shape and their nutty flavour. On the recommendation of Flighty over at Flighty's Plot I may also have a go at growing Vales Emerald as I have never grown them before.
I have only bought Charlotte so far which are chitting away nicely - they didn't do too bad last year even with the bad weather conditions - I think we are all going to have to pray to the gardening gods for better weather this year.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I am not too hopeful weatherwise for 2013. The jetstream is forecast to be firmly planted on top of us for at least the next 2 weeks, so it looks like the first half of February is going to be wet. Boo :( I really am getting fed up of the rain. At least the snow provided a bit of a change!
DeleteThanks for the mention, and link. Last year was difficult and disappointing for potatoes but we can only hope for better weather.
ReplyDeleteAs you've seen I'm growing mostly what I've grown the past couple of years with just a change of quantity.
Fingers crossed for this year! Flighty xx
I forgot to say that it'll be interesting to see how you get on with the Belana and Shetland Black varieties, the first of which I've never heard of! The Sarpo varieties are 'blight resistant' but some people don't rate the flavour or cooking qualities of them. Flighty xx
ReplyDeleteI always like to try and grow something different, so that will be interesting. Most likely I will end up growing another maincrop, I only opted for the Sarpo because of their blight-resisting properties as I was so fed up last year. I look forward to reporting back! x
DeleteI didn't bother with potatoes last year apart from autumn sown ones. Which because I planted at the height of blight season were a disaster. I will be making up for it this year & have purchased a variety of seed potatoes. Which I found was like shopping for shoes, the variety on offer was huge.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of it like that! I always get excited each year thinking about what potatoes I'm going to choose to grow. I hope yours do well this year.
DeleteI love king Edwards and whilst a more known variety I've never had a bit of bother with them.
ReplyDeleteNice blog, found you via blotanical :-)
Thank you for your nice comment and your follow! Your dogs are very cute :)
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