You say potato, I say firm white tuber

My control potato has sprouted.

Up at the allotment, my first earlies (of which control potato is the leftover) look as lifeless as ever. Wet and generally cool weather has not been conducive for sprouting. Probably another few days to go judging by the control potato. Remember, the control spud was planted a couple of days after sowing the outdoor crop. But, what it lacked in time in the soil has more than been made up for in heat and protection from the elements.

All of the above are first earlies, Lady Christl. I don’t know a huge amount about potato varieties. This year is going to be an experiment (and so will next year and the one after that). We more or less picked these out of a hat. We knew we wanted an early. According to the catalogue, these are “an excellent first early variety that can be dug around around 8 weeks from planting.”

Heck, that’s early!

Good boilers: that’s more of the blurb. Anyway, they look cracking in the accompanying photo.

No idea about the variety of the competition pot. But, I hope you will agree, a fine specimen.

For the main crop, we chose Desiree. We were a bit torn on this one. The little runner wanted good ol’ King Edwards, a great versatile spud. But, I was a bit hesitant when reading: ‘needs good soil’. If it had said ‘needs heavy clay and weed ridden clumps’ then I would have jumped at it.

Valor was another option, primarily because of disease resistance. On the other hand, it is a late maturing spud. Whether it would survive the blight, about which we only learnt after ordering, is touch and go.

It’s all a bit of a punt or lottery or something you can’t really predict. Except, if we get another wet summer, I’m betting we could be limited to what’s growing now in the greenhouse.

Spare a thought for George. He’s planted three rows of first earlies. Second earlies go in soon and he’s planning a main crop too! Chips all round (first served in the USA in 1801)!