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Thursday 28 July 2011

More on Spuds

Today I received the dispatch email from JBA. seed potatoes for my Christmas spuds I have been informed by Iain that they should be with me tomorrow and as I have steadily been emptying my bags and sorting out the contents in to show able and non show able  specimens I now have some spare compost which will be good enough to use for the eating potatoes at Christmas I set up a small production line to deal with the bag emptying and it seems to work quite well I have a large black tray with compost in the bottom the bags are then placed in it and the bag is carefully cut away (I tried just emptying them out in order to re use the bags in true Yorkshire fashion but found that I was damaging some of the potatoes as they brushed against the plastic on their way out of the bag so cutting seems to be the best method)
The potatoes are then sorted and the ones for showing  put in to plastic boxes in fresh compost which are then placed in my shed till later when they will be sorted further and the ones for each show washed the night before
the remaining eating spuds are also stored in compost and put in my garage for use as and when needed.

I have had mixed results with most doing very well but a couple have not performed this is due to 2 reasons
I must have left too many eyes in the Nadine as I have loads of small potatoes in lovely condition but no large ones at all and as the tops are dying back these are destined for the dinner plate the other problem that I have encountered is Blackleg which has only affected Celine, these have also not made the size due to this problem
Winston have some common scab but I still have some good specimens as for the rest
Cassablanca fantastic clean good sized tubers
Blue belle are still to harvest as the test bag showed they could grow a bit more before reaching the required size.
Amour good size shape and condition
Sherine  good size shape and condition so on the whole a good crop of good spuds.

Caulis are coming thick and fast I am even supplying the local shop
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2 comments:

  1. Looking very good, Paul.

    I tried JBA's Xmas spuds last year, but I found they matured a bit too early with all top growth gone by mid-November and very small tubers. Possibly, I didn't have a sensible watering regime. Not doing them this year as I can't spare the space.

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  2. Richard are you admitting to not be sensible ie. a halfwit

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