Banned By Supermarkets

You know spring isn't far away when it's time to get the first seeds of the year sown. I'm going to try something different this year too, but more of that in a separate post.

First an update on the potatoes. My mail-order seed potatoes arrived, all with the exception of 'Markies'. Due to the poor growing season last year, the supplier advised that they were unable to harvest all the varieties I'd ordered.

As it happens, in my quest for the perfect jacket spud, this was a blessing. I picked up a supermarket pack of 'Markies' for the first time the other week. Despite being a good size and shape, they were too waxy for my liking and certainly wouldn't have won my challenege.

Chitting

As a result, I picked up another bag of seed potatoes at the local garden store. I toyed with either 'Cara' and 'Pentalnd Crown' and, as I'd grown Cara before, I opted for the latter.

It will be interesting to see how they do, as it has subsequently come to my attention that they were the first variety to be banned from a supermarket chain, due to lack of flavour. In fairness, for a jacket spud, that's not too much of a concern. Loading it with the topping of your choice, is where most of the flavour will come from and, from a growing point of view, they are very robust. Disease and drought resistant and apparently very, very, productive.

The spuds are all chitting away nicely, and later this week I'll sow the first seeds of the new campaign, in the shape of tomatoes and chilli peppers. After that, I need to make time for a brewday, as I'm ovedue a home brewing session. There will be more about that over at my other blog, Getting Grist, in due course...