Another spud problem here - more of a quandary.

I've been growing International Kidney (aka Jerseys) and they are
described by T&M as Second Earlies. Every other seed supplier I looked at
said they were First Earlies.

Who should I believe and should I therefore dig when they flower or when
the foliage dies down?

They are also my first ever (deliberate*) homegrown spuds so I'm feeling
very unsure!

--
jane

* as against the oops look what's growing in the compost heap potatoes!

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

"jane" wrote in message
Another spud problem here - more of a quandary.

I've been growing International Kidney (aka Jerseys) and they are
described by T&M as Second Earlies. Every other seed supplier I looked at
said they were First Earlies.

Who should I believe and should I therefore dig when they flower or when
the foliage dies down?

They are also my first ever (deliberate*) homegrown spuds so I'm feeling
very unsure!

We always grew them as "Earlies", start digging approx. 12 weeks from
planting. If you leave it too long before you start cropping they will be
too big (and not "new") by the time you get to the end of the row.

We keep a note of the planting and planting out times and quantities of
everything we grow so it's easy for us.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

On Sun, 8 Jun 2003 21:06:13 +0000 (UTC),
(jane) wrote:

Another spud problem here - more of a quandary.

I've been growing International Kidney (aka Jerseys) and they are
described by T&M as Second Earlies. Every other seed supplier I looked at
said they were First Earlies.

Who should I believe and should I therefore dig when they flower or when
the foliage dies down?

They are also my first ever (deliberate*) homegrown spuds so I'm feeling
very unsure!

I also chose these as my first spuds, but I didn't know they were the
same as Jersey Royals until I looked them up later.

From what I can gather from books and from varying descriptions at the
point of sale, they can be used as earlies, when they are salad sized
and delicious, or as early maincrops when they have grown a bit
bigger. When we harvested them at a later stage they tended to fall
apart when boiled.

I have read that Belle de Fontenay can also be grown as either earlies
or maincrops and I'm going to see how that works this year.
--
Stuart Baldwin
news\at/boxatrix\dot/co\dot/uk

The message
from (jane) contains these words:

Another spud problem here - more of a quandary.

I've been growing International Kidney (aka Jerseys) and they are
described by T&M as Second Earlies. Every other seed supplier I looked at
said they were First Earlies.

Who should I believe and should I therefore dig when they flower or when
the foliage dies down?

All potatoes do the same; by the time they flower, tubers are forming.
By the time the leaves die back, the whole crop is ready for lifting.
Whether your crop is a first or second early depends more on when you
planted it in relation to when you pick it, than it's name :-)

The trick is to get the best of both worlds; enjoy some of the crop as
little new potatoes and leave some to mature (making lots of bigger
potatoes).The taste of new baby potatoes freshly lifted from the garden
is divine, unlike anything you can buy in a shop; I've described in
another thread how best to harvest them. Just wash them gently under the
tap, don't peel them; boil or steam less than 10 mins until just tender;
drain and toss very gently with good butter and salt.

Janet.

On Sun, 8 Jun 2003 23:42:57 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

~The message
~from (jane) contains these words:
~
~ Another spud problem here - more of a quandary.
~
~ I've been growing International Kidney (aka Jerseys) and they are
~ described by T&M as Second Earlies. Every other seed supplier I looked at
~ said they were First Earlies.
~
~ Who should I believe and should I therefore dig when they flower or when
~ the foliage dies down?
~
~ All potatoes do the same; by the time they flower, tubers are forming.
~By the time the leaves die back, the whole crop is ready for lifting.
~Whether your crop is a first or second early depends more on when you
~planted it in relation to when you pick it, than it's name :-)
~
~ The trick is to get the best of both worlds; enjoy some of the crop as
~little new potatoes and leave some to mature (making lots of bigger
~potatoes).The taste of new baby potatoes freshly lifted from the garden
~is divine, unlike anything you can buy in a shop; I've described in
~another thread how best to harvest them. Just wash them gently under the
~tap, don't peel them; boil or steam less than 10 mins until just tender;
~drain and toss very gently with good butter and salt.

mmm yes, it was reading that which made me ask when I could dig mine!

Thanks to all of you who replied - it looks like I start digging a
plant or two (I've only got 20) when they are in flower and work it
from there :-)

Bob, I too keep a diary of what got planted when, which is on the web
should anyone google for allotment diary ! (not putting url up cos of
those nasty spambots). Mostly a catalogue of my learning curves and
disasters, with photos and a few links. It's a bit bare bones, but if
anyone finds it useful, do let me know!



--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

"jane" wrote in message
...
Another spud problem here - more of a quandary.

I've been growing International Kidney (aka Jerseys) and they are
described by T&M as Second Earlies. Every other seed supplier I looked at
said they were First Earlies.

Who should I believe and should I therefore dig when they flower or when
the foliage dies down?

As has been said in another thread, don't dig them, but carefully scrape
away
the soil around the stem and pick those which are large enough to eat, then
recover the rest for another day.

Alan
--
Reply to alan(at)windsor-berks(dot)freeserve(dot)co(dot)uk