OK, you don't grow potatoes for the flowers. However, they're a good indicator of plant maturity, and their blossoming announces that there are new potatoes to be had in exchange for a little digging.
I planted them early this year, since they were already sprouting. With an eye to the weather forecast for the following few weeks, they went out in March when there were no air frosts (3°C or less) predicted. Forecasts that are three weeks ahead are subject to change, so I kept an eye on things, ready to cover any emerging sprouts with a tarpaulin whenever the frosts are forecast for that night. By March any frosts lasting all day are probably over, so the tarpaulin approach will likely keep the plants alive. A nasty cold snap, if it happens, could finish them off, so there is a risk involved.
I dug up the first potatoes yesterday. Delicious.
Potatoes grown from tubers are clones of the parent plant. New varieties are bred from seeds, but if you try this approach, be aware that the fruits are poisonous.
6 comments:
Marvellous to see this!
I have to say that we often a bit disappointed with potatoes from French shops, but there again, we usually arrived well after the 'new spud' months...
Jersey Royals hit the supermarkets about a month or so ago, but the best 'new spuds' are Cornish at the moment!
I didn't grow any this year, as there's just two of us now, and we couldn't keep up with the new crops, and they finished as main crop which rather defeats the object!
Hi Scrobs, thanks for the comment. Our objectives are a little different, in that, although I love new potatoes, I'm also aiming to learn how to produce a year-round supply.
I understand why breeders have been keen to develop varieties that mature as early as possible, to provide the carbs needed after Winter, but that's been done (generally) at the expense of nutritional value. So as well as planting early varieties, I have also put in a late-maturing one, since it is an old variety: they keep longer, and they tend to have a higher vitamine content.
I am saving my seed potatoes for just after next Full Mon. I am a Moon Planter. I don't know why, but The Bretons believe in this sort of stuff.
Pretty potato flowers.
Hi Elena, I have never been a moon-planter, although I acknowledge that people around here, with much more experience that I have, seem to abide by those rules. I have so much variability in success with my plantings that I'm not sure I would be able to tell any difference.
We put in a Peruvian potato plant thinking it mightn't take, and it's taken over: today Sackerson's back gardn, tomorrow ze world! And pretty purple flowers, the bees love them.
I don't think it's Solanum Crispum, the flowers are smaller.
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