The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

MingVase

Shed'd leaky and damp though Jamanda, we're waiting for a new one. Everything in there goes mouldy

Doveling

Mar - I buy tinned potatoes for our store. Have been adding two tins a week onto the shopping. Not overly keen on them straight from the tin but put in the oven and roasted with a little olive oil and rosemary they are really nice. Also ok in stews and make a passable potato salad.
Managed to get a Panasonic breadmaker off the bay of e. It is a new one. Thanks all for the tip.

MingVase

Yes, I have a million tins of them, they are handy. I use them in soup but have fried them off crispy as well, very handy

RAS

Mar, anywhere cold, breathable and frost proof for potatoes. People use brown' paper sacks to keep the light out and let them breath. But anything not plastic, covered with an old hessian sack would do.

I use the cellar but it does have a small window, so I cover them with an old sack or two as well.

RAS

MingVase

OK many thanks everybody, I'll find somewhere and try this.

Si_Clist

How well they store at home is also down to variety, and obviously whether they're maincrop as opposed to first- or second-early.  Ours have to go in paper sacks in one of the sheds, which is far from ideal on account of it tends to be too warm.  This year, we've got away with it with the Sharpe's Express but the Home Guard have sprouted like madthings.  Maincrop is Golden Wonder, which, praise be, shows no sign of sprouting so far.  Having said that, though, we certainly won't be growing it again!

euronorris

What has put you off Golden Wonder Si? I haven't grown it, so just interested to know some pros and cons of other varieties.

We put some Charlotte, I think (maybe Nicola), in late July/early August (forget exactly when) as a '2nd crop'. Idea being that as they are actually first earlies they grow pretty quickly in warm summer weather and foliage should be done before we get our first frosts. So should have some fairly fresh potatoes closer to Christmas. Not much looking forward to harvesting them in cold, wet or windy weather though lol

MingVase

I grew Pentland Javelin  and Maris Piper.

Si_Clist

euronorris said:

What has put you off Golden Wonder Si?

Well, we grew it because it's reckoned to be a wonderful spud for chips (and crisps, of course!) on account of its very high starch content (and because my Lady Wife is never happy sticking with what we know, but don't lets go there).  Anyhow, it crops something amazing - masses of enormous tubers, the likes of which we've never seen in nigh on 30 years of spud-growing on our plot, and unusually (for us) for a maincrop, no slug damage to speak of *.  So ... very high yield, enormous tubers, but they're rock hard very dense and not possessed of much by way of flavour. 

AFAIC for our soil and our tastes it's Sharpe's Express, British Queen and Home Guard for earlies and Desirée or King Edward for maincrop.  Having said that, though, no doubt Madam will once again order a maincrop for next year that we've not grown before ...

* probably because the their teeth can't cope with Golden Wonder

pavlovs_dog

pavlovs_dog said:

announcement on lockdown and changes to 2021 exams both due at start of week.

apologies for the misinformation, update on exams is due before end of month not end of week.  Based on closing date of the independent review, it will probably be right at the end of the month