Before living in Australia, I never knew that there are so many types of potatoes. Furthermore,different variety of potatoes also have different texture when cook and are put in categories like salad potato, waxy or floury. Some variety of potato are all purpose use, or good only for boiling or roasting. I am going to admit I am still not good at remembering which type of potatoes is good for boiling/roasting and so on. I still don't know much how to differentiate or understand the term 'waxy' or 'floury' potato. Maybe you can give me some tips?
Last year end of winter, I tried growing 'Royal Blue' potatoes which is an all purpose potato with purple skin and yellow golden flesh. See how different the 'Royal Blue' potato skins compared with other potato variety in the top basket.
Sprouted 'Royal Blue' potato ready for planting.
'Royal Blue' potato seedlings.
Instead growing the sprouted spuds in the same patch last year at the end of winter, I planted them in different location because I wanted to see how they grow in different spot around our house. This plant that was growing next to a row of bush beans and tomato plant grow very fast. But I suspect the heat from the brick drive pathway help a bit during the unpredictable weather in spring season. I usually stop dreaming planting potato in our scorching summer unless growing them in partial shade with much lesser yield. So for summer, we swap growing potato with sweet potatoes.
The first heat wave visited early as always at the end of spring and some potato plants could not withstand the heat and few of the potato plant died earlier than I would like to start harvesting those potatoes. The almost 4 months old 'Blue Royal' potato did gave us a decent harvest size of baby potatoes in such an early stage compared to other potato varieties that we planted last year.
The 'Blue Royal' potato can also be grown in our garden well at early autumn for winter fresh harvest. It is a reliable potato for us to grow twice a year in our micro-climate. So far, 'Blue Royal' potatoes gave the most yield per-plant in our garden compared to others in terms of quantities or production. Another all purpose potato that does well in our garden is Desiree.
Have a lovely weekend!
Selamat Hari Raya Haji.
23 comments:
Assalamualaikum..
It's the day.. SELAMAT HARI RAYA.. :D
>>> buat aqiqah hari ni ye.. sure bizi.. :D hope everything going well.. :)
Kentang ungu? isi dlm ungu ke biasa? hmmm nyum nyum.. i like kentang.. :D
Selamat Hari Raya utkorg jauh...interesting info... kalaulah boleh ditanam di sini !! macam mana semai kentang ni? ubi atau benih
Wow this potato colour is amazing. Royal blue... nice!! Never come across this type before. Inside blueish as well?... I foresee nice presentation of colours at your dinner table. Oh I prefer russet potatoes which I think is the floury type in almost everything I cook hehe... ;-D
Selamat Hari Raya Haji..
Nampak best dan senang jer tanam kentang kat sana yer..maklumlah weather yg sesuai..hasil pun lumayan jugak kan...yg nie sedap tak kalau compare ngan potato biasa..
Selamat Hari Raya Haji,
and good harvest.
I'm not a great expert on potato-growing either. I usually grow varieties described as "salad potatoes" which are normally small and quick-growing. Blight is a big problem here and I avoid Maincrop potatoes, which stay in the ground a long time, because they always get affected. The term "floury" means they are crumbly and easily fall apart when cooked (therefore good for mashing) and "waxy" means the stay firm when cooked (best for chips and roasting).
I always forget which potato is good for which purpose too and like Mark we stay clear of maincrop potatoes and plant only first and second earlies. This way they have formed a crop if blight strike. I guess to add what mark said about waxy v floury. The waxy potatoes are sort of smoother to the tongue.
Great harvest and nice that you can harvest twice a year. Interesting color also.
Cher Sunray Gardens
I always love the strange colors in potatoes. Though truth be told, I have never grown anything but white and yellow.
Besides blue, there is also red potato (red inside). From my personal experience I find the blue and red potatoes to be more of the "waxy" type.
selamat hari raya haji Diana seisi rumah.Bagaimana Aqiqah abby?harap berjalan lancar.
Semalam baru lihat di youtube bagaimana menanam kentang dalam Tong besi.Hasinya nampak lumayam.Teringin nak cuba tetapi pakcik cakap kentang tak hidup kat Msia :(
Thanks for the interesting information on this lovely potato variety. The variety of potatoes available is almost as overwhelming as the variety of tomatoes we can grow. It helps having people's reviews to sort through which ones to put in our gardens.
Have you grown Water Chestnuts? They're so easy to grow. Buy a few corms from a Asian Market put them in water and when they have green and root s put them in a container at least 3 gallons (use garden soil)
and water the soil generously.
Selamat Hari Raya Haji...., hmmm teringin nak tanam potato pulak bila tenguk cantiknya hasil.
I grew blue potatoes a couple of years ago. They were starchy to the point of being very dry. Not good except as french fries. I didn't grow them again, but I will look for Royal Blue now. I think our climates must be very much the same. The Summer heat wipes the potatoes out pretty early here too. The 2 types that do well for me are Early Rose and La Rata.
Selamat Hari Raya Haji......no experience in planting potatoes,feel like to try.
I really like Royal Blue potatoes, but have yet to grow them - based on your experience they definitely seem worth a go. In 1995 I left Australia for an extended stay in the UK. When I left the shops sold 1 or 2 types of potato, when I returned in 2007 they were selling at least 8 varieties. The appreciation for using a range of varieties has definitely increased.
I love potatoes, and some of them can be pretty expensive over here since they are imported. I tried growing potatoes twice, both times the plants grew big and healthy, but they suddenly died on me, no idea why except for the hot weather here I guess. I thought of trying it again, this time with some sort of shelter from the direct sun.
I have not seen the blue ones before, looks so nice!
How is little baby doing? :)
I tend to grow Maris Peer potatoes in Northern Ireland. I should really try some other varieties.
only after I read this post then I know that there are many types of potatoes.
Thank you for sharing this info. What a wonderful experience if I could plant it at my home :D
JaSSNaNi~Waalaikumsalam. Buat aqiqah tapi dengan bantuan pertolongan orang lain. Masak pun saya tak dapat tolong :(. Syukur alhamdulillah ada yang menolong. Sibuk dengan sekolah dan baby. Isi yang jenis ini kuning keemasan.
Kak Mar~Dari ubi yang dah bertunas macam dalam gambar no. 2 tu.
Stephanie~Feel like royalty eating this potato...hehehe...Inside golden yellow.
UmmuAidan~Kalau musim panas boleh juga cuba tapi nak kena tempat yang berteduh sikit dan sebelah pagi matahari yang tak beberapa terik. Home-grown potato mesti sedap dari yang kedai tu. Ok juga yang potato jenis ini, tengok cara nak masaknya.
Rainfield61~ Terima kasih asyik beraya di perantauan.
Mark~Thank you for explaining the terms, I understand the terms much better now. I usually like to make fritters, with boiling, mashing and then mix with other ingredients. Make shape and fry them. But sometime I used the wrong potato. Because when I fry it back it does not stay firm but crumble in the cooking oil. For this kind of fritters is better to use waxy?
Sue~What is 'first and second earlies'? Baby potato size variety? Blight strike when humid? Our summer here so dry.
Cher~We don't have frost as we close to the coast and autumn here like second spring.
Different varieties of potatoes take different lengths of time to reach maturity.
Those classed as first earlies are potatoes that are ready to harvest in about 10 weeks after planting. They are good for container growing as well.
Second earlies takes about 13 weeks or thereabouts.
Maincrop potatoes take about 20 weeks. We plant the earlies so that they are more likely to have grown to maturity and produced a crop before any blight strikes.
Sue~ I was just thinking if I wanted to try growing potato in a tropical climate starting with earlies will probably be a better idea...hmmm...waiting for the potato seeds from my previous garden to sprout but I am not sure which group of potato it belongs to.
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