Spade Work : From Plot to Plate

Red King Edward - Potato Tasting

Red King Edward, a variation of King Edward, dates from 1916.

Not very red, it threw some interesting shapes when growing - as did quite a few of the varieties this year. These remind me of tear shaped brioche.

If only they were as good to eat.

RKE was creamy and mild tasting and, I couldn't help thinking, something akin to packaged instant mash. Readers of a certain age will remember Smash and the jingle 'For mash get Smash' . Harsh, maybe, but without salt, butter and gravy there was no real taste.

Still like its relative, King Edward, what it lacks in taste it makes up for in texture.

So of the  five varieties tasted ( Romano, Lady Balfour, Sarpo Mira, King Edward and Red King Edward)  Lady Balfour stands out on yield, with good flavour, while Sarpo Mira with its meaty one pound tubers just piping it on taste.

I wonder how they'd fare roasted or baked...........

King Edward - Potato Tasting

King Edward, a 1902 introduction is a popular spud.

Mine look as if they're in line for a prize in the 'oddest shaped vegetable' category but this photograph is the exception. The variety had consistent shape, a good size and attractive colouring.

Rated a great roaster, as a mashed potato its taste didn't match its popularity - mild even bland I'd say.

But where it did score was in its texture - light, fluffy, foldy, enhanced by salt and onion gravy.

Lady Balfour - Potato Tasting

If potatoes, like good wine, improve and develop their flavour in storage, then Lady Balfour may well be the premiere cru of the maincrop world.

The thin skin peels easily revealing a cream flesh with a good amount of starch releasing a strong earthy aroma when mashed. This carries through to the tasting. With good flavour, it's a spud that holds its own without the need for butter, gravy or dressing.

It's let down a little by variable tuber size. Several large potatoes and multiple strings of small ones (I'll try these roasted) was probably the result of good followed by poor growing conditions through the season.

Overall the combination of yield - 14lbs from one plant - and definite taste makes this one hard to beat.

Seed Swaps

This Garden is Illegal posted a humourous piece on seed swapping that makes a serious point; 

"Its a way to keep biodiversity alive on our small planet. Seed trading is our small rebellion against all that is corporate and homogenised."

Want to be part of the rebellion? Then consider joining The Heritage Seed Library - even if you don't order anything the yearly catalogue makes good reading.

And you could post  a seeds wanted / seeds to swap list on your blog. For the price of a few postage stamps there's a whole world of new, different and heritage seed often not available anywhere else. Thanks to Daughter of The Soil and Bifurcated Carrots I'll be growing three new kinds of garlic next year, four new kinds of tomato and purple podded peas.

What I'm looking for is Peer Gynt seed - I know, I know it's not heirloom - none of my catalogues seem to stock it this year. Alternatively can anyone suggest another variety that will produce early, tight green buttons maturing at the same time that freeze well?

More Allotment Art in the Park

I blogged previously about Thomas Kilpper -  he's the artist who'll be trying to feed you from his allotment while your listening to a soundtrack inspired by Pink Floyd and popular 1940s war time songs......

Oh, yes and the publicity blurb says he "makes allusions to the present situation in Iraq."

Covers some ground this man.

Well, work is underway on his installation in the foreground next to the allotment.

Can you tell what it is yet?

There's a clue in the title of his exhibition PIGISBACK, apparently.

Sarpo Mira - Potato Tasting

When I read that Sarpo Mira was 'the product of many years of Soviet-style long-term breeding', I just knew that this was going to be an ugly looking fella.

Its leathery, scaly skin won't win it any beauty contests but  this Hungarian variety produced consistently large tubers, each about 1lb. On the down side some suffered from internal hollow heart - I'm told that's where tissue doesn't form because the take up of calcium is poor.

Flesh colour is cream yellow so the mash looks as if you've added a lot of butter even if you haven't. Very starchy when boiled expect an earthy flavour and that's what you get but it's not overpowering.

If you are looking for large tubers (I'm sure it would make a good baker too) and have a lot of mouths to feed then this may be the one for you.

Romano - Potato Tasting

This is Romano, a red skinned variety, from the Netherlands.

The flesh is very white and the flavour mild, others would say bland or  what I think of as a typical mashed potato taste - just a vehicle for butter and salt or spoonfuls of gravy.

Would I grow it again? Well the yield was good, it wasn't affected by scab or blight but it lacks flavour, so it'll have to make way for something different next year.

Is this a record?!!

Earlier in the year my allotment neighbour let me have some maincrop seed potatoes - Romano, King Edward, Red King Edward, Lady Balfour and Sarpo Mira. All of which I harvested over the weekend.

Maybe it was a  little early but there was no sign of blight and I wasn't going to gamble an extra week before I could get down again to harvest.

The picture shows Lady Balfour seed potato on the left, a variety named after the founder of the Soil Association,  and a sample of the harvest - 14 pounds from one seed potato (bred by the Scottish Crop Research Institute with the needs of organic growing in mind writes Alan Romans in The Potato Book)

Is this a record?!!!!

The Inhibited Gardener

I'm still puzzled why my back garden corn failed while the corn planted on the allotment (same variety, tougher conditions - no water and a thin sandy soil) did OK .

I had put it down to lack of water but I always think of corn growing in hot, dry conditions.

Some time ago Hanna wrote  about growth inhibitors in the seed husks of sunflowers. Clearing the corn yesterday it struck me that the difference between the back garden corn and the allotment was the former was next to the sunflower bed.

Could this be why it failed?

But the time the corn was setting, the sunflowers wouldn't have been producing seed or husks. I wonder if they secrete the growth inhibitor any other way?

Are Gardeners Getting Taller?

The hoe on the left in both photographs is a modern aluminum and plastic handled one, allowing me at least, to stand fairly upright while I go about the business of weeding.

The older ash handled one on the right is much shorter so you stoop over while you work and go straight to the physio afterwards.

Have gardeners got taller as the years have gone by?