Potatoes 2011

I have sourced seed potatoes from the garden centre this year rather than mail order, as I am normally disappointed by how long it takes for them to arrive. Often by the time they get here there's not much time for them to develop decent shoots before planting time. Plus, I'm impatient. So, two types of potatoes are now busy chitting on various window sills. I have Cara maincrop from Thompson & Morgan again, because I was very happy with results last year - not only a good crop but tasty potatoes. I am also trying Pentland Javelin first earlies, which are supposed to be ready only 10-12 weeks after planting. These are from Taylor's, according to the packet.

Murphy's Law for beginners

Everything is growing away strongly on the plot now, I'm just waiting impatiently to start harvesting stuff. I was so nervous earlier in the year that my carefully chitted potatoes weren't going to come up that I actually dug one up to see if anything had happened (of course it had). Now I'm a little more laid back - patience is a virtue. Not that I should have worried of course. I carefully prepared the soil, diligently chitted the specially-sourced seed potatoes in my spare room, acclimatised them to the outdoors, painstakingly planted them at the recommended spacing and depth, added fertiliser to the soil and weeded and earthed up...

Meanwhile, amongst the kitchen scraps, left alone, forgotten, discarded and with no attention whatsoever, I now have 3 healthy potato plants and a spire of brocolli sprouting luxuriantly from my compost heap!

Spud delivery

My expensive scottish seed potatoes are here. (see Wise Mike's Tip No.1 August 2007). Ordered in November and not actually that expensive. Moog thinks: "They aren't food."

I have two varieties, Orla (First Earlies to get me going) and Sarpo Mira (Maincrop). Both are advertised as being resistant to blight, particularly the Sarpo. I got these because I lost all my patio-grown tomatoes to blight last summer. Also there are signs up all round the allotment site warning us allotmentalists to look out for blight as it has been a problem, so hopefully these two varieties will stand up to the job. The supplier sent me a note to apologise for how small the tubers were, this being due to high demand for blight resistant varieties. If they're that popular then Moog thinks I'm on the right track.

For now, they're quietly "chitting" in my spare bedroom. You're supposed to put them the right way up, how you're supposed to tell at this stage I don't know, so I will wait and see what happens. Moog thinks once they start to sprout, then we'll know which way up they're supposed to be.

Moog found a useful guide on how to grow potatoes on the Thompson and Morgan website, which is also where I placed my order.