A few weeks ago we put some first early potatoes to chit – Home Guard and Arran Pilot. It is early yet for planting potatoes and we have not started with those destined for outdoors, but we always try an early planting in the greenhouse and aim to produce our first potatoes by the end of… Continue reading Planting early potatoes in pots
Tag: potatoes
Potato varieties for 2021
Potato varieties for 2021 and how we secure an early harvest Our seed potatoes have arrived. It is, of course, far too early to be thinking of planting potatoes outdoors but we always try to achieve a modest but particularly early harvest of new potatoes, and for those we need to get started in January.… Continue reading Potato varieties for 2021
Frosted potatoes
I am feeling a bit foolish this week. I knew that the first potatoes we planted outdoors a few weeks ago had broken through the soil and I also knew that we were expecting some frost. What I failed to do was connect these two facts in my mind, so left the potatoes unprotected.
Sowing and planting this week
This week saw a mixture of sowing and planting out. First, we prepared our second outdoor potato bed and planted a favourite late main crop Pink Fir Apple, along with more of second early Wilja and a few left over early Sharpe’s Express. The Wilja and Pink Fir Apple will go into the store once… Continue reading Sowing and planting this week
Sowing this week
This week we finished planting the first of our outdoor potato beds, laying out 18 tubers of second early Wilja. This is, for us, a fairly modern variety, bred in Holland in the 1970s. It crops and stores well and can be treated as an early main crop. Mid way between floury and waxy, Wilja… Continue reading Sowing this week
Earthing up the potato pots
In early February we planted 20 tubers of potato Sharpe’s Express in 15 litre pots half filled with a rich compost mix. They have been a bit varied in their development but some were now ready to be earthed up and the others should follow in a week or two. Earthing up with pot grown… Continue reading Earthing up the potato pots
Sowing this week
This week we got our main crop onions, garlic, and shallots planted. Usually, we would have an autumn sown crop running along the side beds of the polytunnel, where they produce well, especially the garlic. As we did little in the garden last year, we are missing out on this crop, but have planted two… Continue reading Sowing this week
Pots of pots
This weekend we took advantage of a brief break in the storms to attend to the most important task of our winter work – planting the early potatoes in large pots in the glasshouses. The normal time to sow the first earlies is towards the end of March or early April. We have some advantages,… Continue reading Pots of pots
Finnish Christmas recipes – rosolli
Rosolli is the classic salad accompaniment to the Finnish Christmas meal, going particularly well with the cured herrings. Some add herring to the rosolli, when it is then known as sillisalaatti – herring salad. This variant is particularly common in Sweden. We, though, prefer to serve the salad without adding herring, and serve several different… Continue reading Finnish Christmas recipes – rosolli
Finnish Christmas recipes – the baked dishes
In the previous article, I described those seasonal dishes that make up our Finnish Christmas meal. In this article, I provide recipes for the three baked dishes that accompany the main course, the ham. These dishes are each made from pureed winter vegetables – swede, carrot, and potato – all of which we have available… Continue reading Finnish Christmas recipes – the baked dishes