Garden And Gardener

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New products at Crocus

by Sarah - March 25th, 2014.
Filed under: Crocus, New Products.

New products today at Crocus

potato 'Charlotte' (seed potato for summer planting)

potato ‘Charlotte’ (seed potato for summer planting) £2.99
Position: sun-partial shade Soil: fertile, well drained Rate of growth: fast-growing Harvesting period: mid-late June Hardiness: protect tubers from frost Popular and high-yielding, these pear-shaped salad potatoes have a waxy flesh that maintains a good flavour when eaten hot or cold. Reliable and easy to grow in a wide range of soils, they have some resistance to scab and a good resistance to blight. If planted in summer, you can begin to harvest your new potatoes in late autumn to Christmas. Garden care: There is no need to chit seed potatoes which are planted in summer, so just plant them straight out into trenches dug into a well-prepared bed about 30cm (12in) apart, or plant them into a potato grow-bag, making sure there is at least 20cm (8″) of compost beneath them. Add a general purpose fertiliser to the bottom of the trench or growbag and then cover the potatoes with a 20cm layer of soil or compost. Keep well watered, and as the plants get to around 20cm (8in) tall you need to bank up the soil around the plant, so the soil covers the bottom two thirds of the plant. Watering your plants well will help improve crop yield and discourage potato scab. It is important that the crop is protected from frosts and the crop should be ready to harvest in around 12 weeks.

potato 'Duke of York' (seed potato for summer planting)

potato ‘Duke of York’ (seed potato for summer planting) £2.99
Position: sun-partial shade Soil: fertile, well drained Rate of growth: fast-growing Harvesting period: early to mid June Hardiness: protect tubers from frost First introduced in 1891, this delicious heritage potato produces good-sized, light-skinned tubers with pale yellow flesh, which start waxy turning floury. An excellent all-rounder, it can be used for roasting, mashing or chipping. If planted in summer, you can begin to harvest your new potatoes in late autumn to Christmas. Garden care: There is no need to chit seed potatoes which are planted in summer, so just plant them straight out into trenches dug into a well-prepared bed about 30cm (12in) apart, or plant them into a potato grow-bag, making sure there is at least 20cm (8″) of compost beneath them. Add a general purpose fertiliser to the bottom of the trench or growbag and then cover the potatoes with a 20cm layer of soil or compost. Keep well watered and as the plants get to around 20cm (8in) tall you need to bank up the soil around the plant, so the soil covers the bottom two thirds of the plant. Watering your plants well will help improve crop yield and discourage potato scab. It is important that the crop is protected from frosts and the crop should be ready to harvest in around 12 weeks.