Why are my first earlies so large?!

So I've had a go at growing some rocket potatoes this year for the first time.

I think I've planted more than I needed and have been digging up the plants as we need them. However the potatoes I'm now digging up are really large.

Is this bad? Because you don't usually buy them this large in the shop. How long can I leave them in the ground for before they go "bad"?

Or am I just worrying over nothing again?

 

I've not grown Rocket myself, but a friend at our allotment site did last year, and he said the same thing as you, massive tatties big enough for giant sized chips!

Digging as required is best for the freshest taste, but if the foliage is dieing back it's time to dig them up in my opinion. Slugs could become a problem if they are left too long.

Steve...

 

I am starting to find holes on my large ones. Why are they attacking now and not before?

 

Probably something to do with the starch/sugar levels in them, but truth be known, I don't have a clue, I'm guessing.

Steve...

 

Sorry to say but I can't grow rocket on my plot as the slugs love them, The last time I grew them I got one boiling from 25 plants.That's why I only grow Kestral and Picaso,

 

You sound like Mrs K

She equates "New Potatoes" with "nice small Jersey Royals from the Supermarket"

The ones in the Supermarket are graded, so all a nice small size. The ones in your garden are growing, and if I harvested them at the size Mrs K wants I would get 4 spuds per plant and loads of developing pin-head sized ones.

Larger spuds taste the same, fantastic!, fresh from the garden. I plant 1st Early potatoes sucessionally to try to have "younger plants" as we harvest through the season.

And Rocket grow like stink, so that probably compounds the problem with that particular variety. Maybe there are better varieties to grow for "smallness" over a longer period?

I grow 5 Rocket spuds, for the earliest possible harvest, and after that we grow varieties choosen specifically 'coz we like the flavour (in our case Arran Pilot followed by Charlotte, and Pink Fir Apple as a Salad variety [whatever that means - we boil or steam them and eat them hot - same as all the other varieties!])