02 March 2011
Grow your own food - week 1
For some, it's chocolate. For others, it's bread. Me? If there is one food that I would never be without, it has to be potatoes.
Mash, chips, roast, crisps . . . I rest my case.
If you're planning to grow this magical veg, however, best get your skates on. Seed potatoes will soon disappear from garden centres and mail order suppliers like Edwin Tucker Aim for around 6 tubers per square metre.
When choosing what to grow, it's easy to be put off by labels describing "first" and "second earlies", and "maincrop" spuds. But stick with it. Earlies are basically new potatoes, harvested in summer when prices are high. Maincrop, dug up in September or even October, are larger with a much higher yield.
Speaking of labels, they can also be quite handy - the notes on taste and susceptibility to disease helping you choose a variety.
I'm a Pink Fir Apple fan. These are knobbly tubers that look a bit like root ginger with an old-fashioned, earthy flavour. They're a potato for showing off, unusual in the sense you're most likely to find them in delis and on posh menus. Yet there's no need to be star struck - they're just as easy as any other spud to grow.
Seed potatoes bought now should be chitted before planting. This means encouraging them to grow shoots by leaving them in a light, frost-free place - a shed with a window, say, or a cool greenhouse or conservatory. You're aiming for three or four shoots about 2-3cm long: brush off any more.
Over coming months, I'll be posting a regular guide to easy food you can grow in your garden or on a balcony.
Potatoes, for example, are notorious for needing lots of space, but still can be grown in containers. Old compost bags will do - turned inside out to reveal their black inside, they can look quite natty lined up on a patio.
If you are short on space, I would go for early potatoes. Not only are they expensive in the shops, but you'll free up growing room once you've harvested them.
But more of this in a few weeks at planting time.
Dominic Murphy's book The Playground Potting Shed includes an easy guide to growing food throughout the year. To order a signed copy at the special price of £6.99, please visit our Shop
Subscribe to this blog by email using Google's subscription service.
