Saturday 28 April 2012

first new potatoes

Although April's weather has been far from ideal for getting crops off to a flying start there was a little ray of sunshine today when I harvested the first of this year's new potatoes.


These are Lady Christl, planted in a sack in the greenhouse ten weeks ago. There were lots of pea-size tubers as well and before anyone says I should have left them another few weeks I'm like a kid in a toy shop when it comes to new potatoes. I just have to have them. 

The taste was fantastic, better than the Jersey Royals in the shops and a helluva lot cheaper than the £3 a kilo the supermarkets are charging. I'm going to try and resist the temptation to lift any more until next weekend, by which time they should have bulked up a bit more.

With the cold nights I'm still having to fleece over the outside potatoes and I'm bringing the tomatoes and peppers into the house. As an experiment I've been leaving one of the potted tomato plants in the greenhouse and it is a good three inches shorter than the ones that are brought inside. Same variety, same compost, etc. so the extra heat at night really is beneficial.

The only things that seem to be thriving outside at the moment are radishes and spring onions which is just as well otherwise our salads would be looking a bit miserable.

French Breakfast radishes picked yeasterday

2 comments:

  1. Oo your tatties look lovely - so envious - did you let them flower first, as you would outdoor potatoes - or couldn't you wait that long? Was that haul from more than one pot?

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  2. They look good Colin, wise move to get them in early. Mine are just sat in sodden earth at the moment, will be quite a few weeks before we're eating them!

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