Which are the best tasting first early spuds?

[Crystalmoon]

Hi everyone I usually grow Charlottes or Pink Fir Apples & was considering trying Jazzy &/or Harlequin next year....
BUT... I am at a new allotment site & it has rampant blight at the moment & not many people seem to be bothering to lift their blighty spuds. I had to dig up all of my Charlottes last week as the plots surrounding mine have awful blight. Blight had just started to affect my plants when I dug them up & I disposed of all the infected material off site. But as no one else seems to be bothering to do anything about the blight affected plants I am thinking of only growing very early potatoes next year. I have only ever grown second earlies or main crops so have no idea about which first earlies to try. I will grow them in a raised bed part filled with clay & part filled with compost as my heavy clay will almost certainly be too wet to work in February. Thank you for any advice xjane

[Crystalmoon]

[small]

I spent a year or three trying loads of different varieties. I've ended up sticking to Pentland Javelin - (easy as well, Wilkinson's!) because they were as nice as any, and very early.
What a shame that your site is so neglected though, isn't that the sort of thing that site management should be pushing, i.e. clearing infected material?

[galina]

That's a difficult one, because they taste slightly different on different soil.  For me Harlequin is a winner, but not as a first early.  It is definitely a second early. 

Do you like floury or waxy potatoes? 

Planting out really early and fleecing might help.  There are also the blight resistant Sarpo potato varieties.   For great bakers (although you may have to add a bit of extra flavour in the fillings).  And Dutch potato Carolus which is also very blight resistant, although not very high yielding for me. 

A combination of early planting and early and/or blight resistant varieties.  If you have a Potato Day near you, it is a good idea, because you buy by the tuber and can try out several different varieties. 

[Deb P]

Nicola is another nice tasting second early....waxy yellow fleshed salad type. They are available in small packs in Wilkinson's, or you can pay a lot more at Sarah Raven! I get all my spuds at Wilkos now, the one lot that failed were Saxons that I got on a whim from Wyvales this year....

[Crystalmoon]

Thank you for the quick replies & great advice.

Hi Deb P thanks for the tip about Wilkinson's tubers I bet they will be much cheaper than Wyevale ones.

Hi Galina the ironic thing is I am allergic to potatoes myself (actually allergic to the whole nightshade family) I have to wear plastic gloves when I peel them or I get a rash & eating them makes my joints scream with pain! I grow them for my other half (to be honest he would live on frozen chips if I allowed him to...yuk!). so I need a spud that steams/boils well & mashes & possibly roasts ok. A lot to ask from one variety I realise. I will have a look at the blight resistant Sarpo you mention.   

Hi Small Pentland Javelin sounds like a great one to try next year thank you, spuds as early as pos seems to be the best idea.
There isn't a waiting list for my particular allotment site at the moment so it is becoming very overgrown on some unworked plots (I have a plot at the end of mine which is virtually all marestail  & the one to the right side of mine is going the same way) & some of the plots that started out great earlier in the season seem to have been abandoned with little or no harvesting, weeding etc going on. Sigh.

xjane 

[squeezyjohn]

Hi there,

I've found that the first earlies can be a bit of a mixed bag - if you're looking for something to give tender new potatoes as a treat early in the season I've found that Rocket is the fastest to give you spuds - but they're quite watery and bland ... I liked Lady Christl which took longer to make potatoes but tasted better and gave a decent yield.

A lot of what's being discussed here is later potatoes though - earlies would normally be harvested before the blight hits but I've started thinking of potatoes as a continuum of types from first early through to late main crop with a whole spectrum in between and you can use them differently according to your conditions and needs.

I like to store some potatoes that sees us nicely in to the winter but I found that the old boys technique of planting main crop types later than the earlies and waiting until everything had died back to harvest meant that I got blight 2 years out of 3 and when I dug up my potatoes in September the majority of tubers were riddled with damage holes from slugs, ants and the such like. 

I took a different approach for the last two years and it's really worked for me. When I want to store potatoes I grow a 2nd early (or early main crop) type and plant them as early as I can in April (maybe fleecing or earthing up when necessary to stop frost) - I just let them grow normally until blight hits (or the end of July whichever's first) and harvest everything then and there.  I normally get a bumper crop of big potatoes to store in sacks with a load of tiddlers thrown in for good measure which we eat in the next few weeks ... this way I haven't had any pest damage, disease or other problems affect the tubers - and I also get back valuable growing space in time to plant out stuff for autumn.

The above method has worked well with Desirée, Kestrel, Charlotte and Harlequin - all of which can also be rootled out while still growing through June and July to catch a handful of smaller tubers to use as new potatoes without killing the plant (well maybe not Kestrel which are quite floury)

Sárpo Mira are great for not getting blight, generally give a huge yield of massive spuds if you leave them longer, I don't remember them being affected by the slugs - but as everyone says they're not the tastiest and disintegrate when boiled ... they make nice long chips though!

[Crystalmoon]

Thanks Squeezyjohn I will give Lady Christl a try. I just want to be able to harvest before any blight hits & the first signs of blight at my allotment site came in mid June this year. Xjane

[Tee Gee]

After many years of growing many types of earlies I have gone back to an old favourite variety namely: Foremost.

This year they have been so large and prolific it I have only dug up and used about half my crop.( I planted 25 tubers)

Because they are so large this year we have been having them roasted or baked which is unusual for an early, and they are 'bootiful'

But then again in terms of taste I see this as being down to a number of things e.g. Soil, season, method of cooking, and personal tastes!

And that folks is my thoughts on the subject...Tg

[Pescador]

Are you sure all the other plots have blight and that it's not natural dieback, as their life-cycle has completed.
Sounds very strange that they should all be suffering, but doing nothing about it!

[Crystalmoon]

Hi Pescador I had a good look at all the potato plants on my site yesterday & some at the furthest away points from my plot seem to be just dying back. The plots nearest mine definitely have blight. A chap a few plots down from me was digging up his spuds yesterday & the smell was awful. Also a chap with a huge brand new poly tunnel on the plot behind mine was clearing it of all his tomato plants which also have blight, but he didn't bag them up & remove them he just put them on an open compost heap that is just across the path from my plot & is right next to the communal water butt. I will speak to the site rep when I next see him.

[Crystalmoon]

Thanks for the tip about Foremost Teegee

[galina]

I will speak to the site rep when I next see him.

Just want to mention that HDRA/GO always said that composting blighted foliage was good enough.  Doesn't need to be burnt or binned.  Volunteer potato tubers were always blamed as a vehicle for early blight spores.  Blight is caused by blight spores that blow in on the wind and are then activated by moisture.  This is why the blight warnings calculate how much moisture a certain area had in a given time period.  The spores alone don't do any harm.  Keeping tomatoes dry and with good airflow to dry off any moisture fast, cope with spores better.  And why poly tunnels often have far more blight than greenhouses, as they are more difficult to air front and back to get some drying wind through and the atmosphere inside them is more stagnant and with high humidity.

What this boils down to is that your concern isn't as clear-cut as 'you got the blight from the next to you allotment or from the communal compost bin'.  It came from the wind (many miles away - remember we get Sahara dust on southerly wind at times) and it was activated by moisture of which we all had plenty.  Your part of the allotment site may be just slightly less windy or slightly more sheltered than the other areas, which is great for some things, less so for blight prevention. 

The 'negligent' plot holders have a defence.  Had everybody been meticulous the outcome would probably not have been different.  This year is particularly bad for blight in many places that escaped it last year   

To bring it back to topic, there are more or less blight resistant varieties both for tomatoes and for potatoes and breeders are working on blight resistance.  In a few years we should have pretty good varieties for both. 

[Crystalmoon]

Hi Galina I didn't realise it was ok to just compost the blighty material....I can't remember how I came to believe it had to be disposed of off site, think it must have been something I was told many years ago when I first had an allotment on a different site. I still don't think I would want to put it into my compost bins though but thank you for letting me know as I won't say anything to the site rep now. I will definitely just stick to growing earlies next year & see what happens.   

[galina]

From memory we have talked about this on A4A before.  The Garden Organic advice has often been queried.  I think it is also psychological - if a plotholder disposes of his diseased plants, s/he cannot be accused of 'spreading blight'.  We can't see the wind blown spores which are everywhere, therefore the wind does not get blamed, but the 'negligent' plot holder does.  Having to deal with rotten tomatoes and potatoes is always the worst job in the garden calendar. 

It is probably worth noting that there is a difference between tuber blight and foliage blight resistance in potatoes.  Some are very different.  As the tubers are to be stored, tuber blight resistance is the more important one to look out for. 
https://www.europotato.org/varietyindex.php?page_no=1
http://varieties.ahdb.org.uk/
http://www.agrico.co.uk/products/varieties/

These are a few potato databases which give information about foliage and tuber blight resistance. 

[Crystalmoon]

Thanks for the links Galina I will have a good look through the info before investing in next years seed potatoes. I do grow organically so it could well be advice from Garden Organic that has stuck in my head about removing blight from plots. I'm pretty sure I do have a psychological issue with potato growing anyway as I am allergic to them  I have to wear plastic gloves to peel/cut them or I get a dreadful rash & I absolutely cannot eat them in any form. I grow them for my other half to eat & when I had three 'locust' sons living at home I grew loads of them. To be honest I would be very happy not to have to grow them ever again lol but hubby would really miss them so I will persevere. 

[galina]

. To be honest I would be very happy not to have to grow them ever again lol but hubby would really miss them so I will persevere. 

That's a double whammy, having to deal with blight and not being able to enjoy them yourself!  I eat very few  and grow most for OH.  But having to wear gloves like you have to just to deal with them (and still persevering!) is in a different league altogether!     

[Vinlander]

Hi Crystalmoon,

I find blight resistant potatoes very bland. I'd rather have early Charlotte golfballs and buy keepers when I need them.

It's going to be many, many years before breeders produce a blight resistant potato that tastes anything like as good as Charlotte or PFA (or PFA's relative Anya which can be grown as an early).

There are alternatives to  potatoes anyway - oca tastes like a waxy potato with lemon and isn't a Solanum (nightshade family) so you can grow them and handle them and both of you can eat them.

More importantly they can't get blight or any other disease, so you don't need to buy them ever again (though they can be attacked by soil pests like any other root).

The lemon flavour is a hint of oxalic acid, but nobody has ever advised against eating as many as you like.

If your other half is anything like mine it would be wise to use psychological warfare techniques - make a fuss about buying a lemon verbena plant and 'threaten' to try it with some new potatoes, then quietly serve up some oca.

Cheers.

[squeezyjohn]

I would disagree that oca taste like any kind of potato - they grow underground and look a little bit like a potato - but for me that's where the similarity ends.  I know that taste is subjective - but I would say that they're far more like a jerusalem artichoke with a similar texture and lemony taste.

[Vinlander]

I would disagree that oca taste like any kind of potato - they grow underground and look a little bit like a potato - but for me that's where the similarity ends.  I know that taste is subjective - but I would say that they're far more like a jerusalem artichoke with a similar texture and lemony taste.

Yeah, all this stuff is ridiculously subjective, and there's almost as many variations in oca as in potatoes*, but my yellowy/white oca are much denser and chewier than Jerusalem artichokes (there are no Solanum poisons in either so you can eat both of them raw) and I actually prefer the smoky taste of JAs to the lemony taste of oca.

The problem with JAs is that they have so much laevulose etc. that they will never be a potato substitute (except for diabetics) - unless you enjoy feeling like a scooting balloon.

Cheers

*PS. one of my neighbours gave me an oca that looks more like a ginger-root  'hand', but dayglo pink - incredibly smooth and translucent - like a complex carnelian nodule - absolutely beautiful and completely bug-free - unfortunately that's because it's completely flavour-free. Great if you want to grow ornamental famine food... hang them up in the kitchen?

[lottie lou]

Would you like me to send you some oca tubers for you to try Crystalmoon?  This will be after Christmas though.