John's Allotment

Wow! Our gladdies aren't even showing a hint of flowering.

 

I'm really hopeful of a good crop of spuds, these King Eds just keep getting bigger and bigger:

 

Thanks for asking Freddy

Initially I guessed it might take a couple of hours a week, actually it's been less than that, 1.5 hours/week on average. Given that I'm now bringing home enough potatoes and onions and soft fruit to keep us going I'm well pleased. It would have done even better if I'd had the time to water a bit more often. The flowers have been a reasonable success too, we've had several bunches of fresh cut flowers, this is the gladioli today:


I'm going to grow more next year

I'll stick with it, planning how to change it to make it more productive. For example the blackberries are great but one row is far too many for us.

 

Hi Freddy, I've not started the Kind Eds yet, they're still flowering and growing. Yes I think you're right about them not being the best yield, I'l let you know how mine do.

 

King Edwards are normally lifted in September (I don't grow potatoes any more ) and tend to have a lower yield than some of the newer varieties but are definitely the best roasters and jacket potatoes.

They were a new breed in 1902/3 and named for the coronation of Edward VII.

 

Hi @Freddy - finally got around to digging up my spuds, the King Eds did pretty good got about 6 stone from a 2kg bag of seed potatoes. The Cara and Desiree gave me about the same:

 

@HarryS Yes I agree with Jack, dark and cool and frost free - hessian is best, but paper sacks will do.

 

Everything is sold in Metric these days, but whatever I grow comes up in Imperial