I took advantage of the Easter bank holiday to plant my four varieties of well-chitted potatoes in the ground. Strangely it was this exact date that I planted them last year! I’ve learnt from last years experience that I don’t need to grow quite as many, so this time I’m using only half the amount which means I have much more space for other crops.
Varieties
I picked up my seed potatoes from a local potato day held in late January, where they had a huge variety of potatoes to choose from. I knew I wanted to get some Charlotte potatoes, a firm favourite of mine that always grow well and taste great even when you leave them in the ground a little longer. I’m also growing Cara, as I did last year. These grew to be the biggest spuds I’ve ever grown! The only problem with these was the slug damage which I hope to overcome this time by harvesting them earlier.
I’m also growing two new varieties, Sarpo Mira (maincrop) and pink gypsy (early maincrop). These two both have good resistance to diseases and I’ve seen a lot of positive results from the Saro Mira on Dan’s Allotment Garden YouTube channel. He’s grown some incredibly huge crops from the Sarpo Mira in tubs and has some valuable tips. I’m not sure what to expect from the Pink Gypsy potatoes though, let me know in the comments if you have grown them before!
Planting
This time I’ve opted for a different method of planting the potatoes. Rather than digging trenches, this year I’ve opted to simply dig a hole my trusty trowel, fill it with a bit of manure and compost mix before burying the seed potato. I spend so long preparing the ground last week, digging it over and removing bucket fulls of dock weed, that I couldn’t face digging it all over again! I’ll continue to earth up the potato plants as they break the surface of the soil, especially since we’re due for a cold snap for the next few weeks.
Let me know what potatoes you’re growing this year!
Homegrown Garden 
Im growing pink gypsy also 🙂 I’m doing rooster, rocket and in July I’m doing rocket for a oct-dec harvest
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Have you eaten pink gypsy potatoes before? I guess if it’s your first growing year maybe not! I can’t wait to try them. I haven’t grown for a winter harvest before. Now that I have a polytunnel I should think about doing that! 🤔
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No i haven’t ate them either nor any one i gave my spares too everyones excited by them. I managed half a season last year and done Nicola for a winter harvest worked well in the tunnel (look at me sounding like i know what im talking about)
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That’s how I plant my spuds. It works a treat and saves effort!
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