Price of seed potatoes

[cardiffsteve]

Is Hereford any closer for you Steve ? ..... Herefordshire Potato Day | Potato Council

Hereford almost 60 miles, bristol 45 miles.
And i not allowed to leave Wales

Thanks anyway Mr BB

[veggiechicken]

Steve, if you just want a few spuds, Pugh's usually have a potato day with lots of different varieties that you can buy in small quantities. And I'll see you in Chapter for the Seed swap. There were some HSL seeds there last Feb.

[cardiffsteve]

Steve, if you just want a few spuds, Pugh's usually have a potato day with lots of different varieties that you can buy in small quantities. And I'll see you in Chapter for the Seed swap. There were some HSL seeds there last Feb.

Might try Brynawel in Penarth.
See you there.

[marchogaeth]

You can still plant them, just dig them up earlier (before they become big and "maincrop"), before blight hits you

Very fair point. I do like having concepts challenged! Thanks I will certainly keep this in mind.

[marchogaeth]

That's bad news marchogaeth doesn't bode well for food prices.
I only came to see what I could start sowing now but now I all depressed.

Don't be depressed. I'm well inspired by Two Shed's advice - again. Check out the Lunar planting thread - leeks and onions this week.

As for seed swaps, I think I have even less choice than you! It;s deffinitely better for the environment for me to stay at home and use the VSP and catalogues.

[cardiffsteve]

Don't be depressed. I'm well inspired by Two Shed's advice - again. Check out the Lunar planting thread - leeks and onions this week.

Does that mean i have to plant at night?

[Potstubsdustbins]

First thing I take account of when choosing my veg etc is taste. As most supermarket veg is orientated at maximum production and uniformity not taste I try to avoid them.

I did grow some last year that were a success they were Corolle from the Co-Op they are a very tasty first/second early.

Colin

[lez]

some interesting ideas. I have checked all the potatoe days etc and even the cambridgeshire one is in huntington which I am sorry to say is aggod 40 miles away. I have heard of a small retailer in a village near by who does a few seed spuds so i will try my luck. I was looking at planting only 3x22ft rows of earlies this year after last years experience. I am considering maybe 2 rows of second earlies though. Choice may be limited but hey ho. I am suprised, though really shouldn't be, that the spuds are still in the ground. I should think they are well rotted as mine were on the turn last year and I'm on sandy soil. According to my little record of rain last year, and this is purely an amateur playing, we had 17.7" in 2011 and so far this year 27.9" and there is still a couple of days to go with more forecast with high winds etc. Could be another interesting year. Good luck all.

[marchogaeth]

Does that mean i have to plant at night?

Cheeky! (white text to make message long enough)

[Two_Sheds]

most supermarket veg is orientated at maximum production and uniformity not taste

When I save supermarket spuds for planting, I save the tasty ones

[Moopmoop]

I have most succes with Charlotte potatoes usually just leftovers out of a bag from A**a. I have tried other varieties with little success. This year I have ordered seed potatoes from T+M, they were £2.99 for 20 potatoes. I didn't think this price was too bad, I can see how it's a lot more expensive if you need a lot more though. I grow in bags so this is enough for me. It will be interesting to see how I get on as the only reason I ordered seed potatoes this year was all the ranting from Potato Council saying amateur growers were spreading blight???

[kate&rob]

no spud days at all in east yorkshire that i could see, or yorkshire in general! how can there be none in gods own county
but on the original topic, if you think that 3.99 is a lot for 2kg then look at the seed catalogues, 3.99 seems pretty good to me.

[lez]

Tried T&M and the variety I most like to grow is Maris Bard. T&M charge is £4.99 for 20 tubers and then add postage. Maybe as was said earlier by Kate and Rob £3.99 for 2kg's is not that bad then after all. Will have to have another gander about and see what's on offer.

[marchogaeth]

When I save supermarket spuds for planting, I save the tasty ones

Any recommendations? I'm thinking I'll do my second earlies like normal and maybe try some maincrop in bags using supermarkest ones. That way I can start them in the tunnel as soon as possible and then drag them outside to finish off. Outside I'm always in danger of starting late and losing them early.

All this is making me think about potatoes (properly)! Are main crop smaller yielding than seconds if you harvest them at the same time as second earlies or do they just keep going longer in the absence of blight? I should probably be posting on green shoots with this question!

[SarzWix]

I look at it this way; how much is a bag of spuds going to cost in the supermarket, if 20 seed spuds is £3.99? I reckon each seed of say, Charlotte, is going to give me the equivalent of a bag of spuds that would cost £1 in the shops, so I'm still going to come out on top...