Polypots

Now I am going to give you all a top tip that I have learned about growing potatoes. Grow potatoes in polypots and you will find it so much easier. There are some videos about this on my potato blog and youtube channel and I found the results to be excellent.

The idea is simple really. In the cold months when you have nothing to do you mix up your compost mix. For this I would recommend a good general purpose compost available from any good garden centre.
Now my mix is 16oz of TEV4 added to 100 litres of compost. A builders bucket is around 15 litres and I use one to measure the compost out.

You may also wish to add 12oz of Nutrimate to this mix which will give you the ultimate growing medium for your potatoes. The TEV4 and Nutrimate can also be used throughout your garden with great results and I am doing them at bargain prices because you are buying in bulk that will last for years. The results I had from one seed potato in a polypot that contained 17 litres of my compost mix were tremendous.

I averaged 2.5kg of eating potatoes per bag and when I wanted to eat some you just went out to the garden and lifted a bag then simply emptied the bag out and tucked in to some delicious fresh potatoes. My maincrop ones were just as easy but I decided to store them so all I did was chop the haulms off and place them into my greenhouse and they are still there perfectly fresh in the dry compost. If you are going to store them this way then ensure that the compost is as dry as dust.

This method was so simple for me and my pregnant wife who could harvest potatoes easily when she needed them. The only preparation I had to do was mix the compost, work the soil where the polypots were going and add fertilizer to that area and I added some extra holes to the bags with the aid of a paper punch so that the roots could absorb the nutrients from the soil that the bags sat on. I also purchased a white marker pen from an arts and craft shop so that I could write the variety name onto each bag and avoid mix ups. Again watch the polypot videos and see how easy it is.

If you have no garden then simply use the compost mix in the green potato planters. A top tip for the green potato planters is to only use 2 or 3 potatoes and you will actually harvest larger crops of potatoes because there is less competition for space.

Potato sundries

We are now stocking more sundries for potatoes. This will be the last year that I can buy Dithane 945 as it is to be withdrawn from the market place once current stocks run out. This is due to new legislation from the EU so now is the time to stock up so that you can prevent potato blight for a few years at least.

 

We have a massive stock of hessian sacks and they are at a great price. They are great for storing potatoes or collecting leaves in to make leaf mulch.
Our green potato planter bags are also proving to be a massive success and can also be used as a very handy shopping bag due to their size and strength.

Minitubers

We have a huge selection of minitubers online this year and again they are the same as the NVS varieties you can grow your own seed potatoes from these high grade tubers for 9 generations. We have some really great varieties such as Blue Kestrel, Arran Comrade, Heather, Purple Eyed Seedling, Bishop and we have a selection of varieties that we have grown from minitubers such as the amazing Salad Blue which has blue flesh and Highland Burgundy Red which has red flesh. Give them a try and you will be as amazed as I was when you harvest them.

The rest of the online shop is fully stocked and we have one of the largest and most unique ranges available.
Many of our varieties are now proving so popular that many other retailers are now selling our range and we are glad to be supplying Alan Romans who works very hard to promote unusual and rare potatoes with our conservation varieties.

Exhibition potatoes

Now onto the potatoes. We have a limited number of exclusive potato varieties this year to mark the 50th Anniversary of the National Vegetable Society. We call these varieties NVS Amour and NVS Sherine and they are the most sought after varieties by exhibition growers. The stock we have is the highest grade possible and comes in the form of minitubers. To give you an idea of size most of these exclusive tubers are about the same size as a golf ball and will enable you to grow your own seed potatoes from them for at least 9 generations provided they are kept disease free. We use these minitubers ourselves to produce seed potatoes so you can by with total confidence.

If you join the National Vegetable Society you can enter a competition we are running next year where there is a prize fund of £375 for the person who produces the best plate of 5 NVS Amour or NVS Sherine.
Joining the NVS also gives you exclusive access to the members area forum where you can learn all sorts of top tips from expert growers and ask any questions you have about growing top quality vegetables.

Guide to growing potatoes

Well, the nights have drawn in and the temperature is cooling down.

At night there is not much else to do but watch TV or read through some of the seed catalogues that are now out for next season.
Well I have some good news for you because we here at Jamieson Brothers have produced a new Guide To Potatoes booklet. In this illustrated catalogue we have gone into great detail to provide you with all the information you could need about growing a successful potato crop. It has pictures of every variety we do and gives you a break down on cooking qualities and disease resistance of each variety. This is a bargain at £3.99 and will be a great stocking filler for Christmas.

New Potato Guide Book Released

I have released my first book entitled Guide to Potatoes which is full of illustrated pictures and guides on how to grow and harvest potatoes. It has our full range of potatoes in that you can purchase from us and has star ratings for pest and disease resistance.
Just follow the link and learn a bit more Guide to Potatoes

Minitubers are a great success

Today I sold the first of my minituber stock to the members of the national vegetable society and it was a great success. Many commented on how large the tubers were and thought it was a great idea to bring back these varieties so that they can grow them again. The most popular variety was NVS Amour followed closely by NVS Sherine.

Potato Day in 2010 at Gardenwise

We have arranged to hold another potato day at Gardenwise of Dumfries next year on Sunday the 14th of March. We will have our full range of potatoes on display and we will have special guest star MR MEDWYN WILLIAMS who will be on hand to answer all questions related to producing top quality veg. He will also do a couple of talks on the day so you can benefit from his wealth of knowledge. Everyone is welcome so put this date into your diary and come and enjoy the day with us.

Exclusive minitubers on sale now

I have just put my exclusive minitubers NVS Amour and NVS Sherine on sale now here.

Potato harvest finished

The end of the 2009 potato harvest is here. We lifted the pink fir apple yesterday which was a big job due to the size and shape of the tubers. Many of the tubers simple fell through the webs on the harvester back onto the ground so there was 5 of us walking behind filling baskets like the old days. Pink fir apple will be very scarce this year as will many other varieties but what we have lifted is very good quality.

Today will be back to office jobs. We have lots of online retailers and gardening groups that are now switching to the JBA brand because of our superior quality.


This is the first time we have allowed anyone to stock our conservation potatoes but we are pleased to supply Alan Romans with them as he has a great knowledge of potatoes.

Keep your eyes peeled for our brand this year.

Harvest almost finished

Well it is almost the end of another harvest and all I can say is it can't end soon enough.
It has been the wettest year ever here and we have been delayed for over a month.
Next week we will get a weeks holiday and then it is straight back to grading potatoes as our first orders go out in November.

What we harvested today

Yet another busy day. Today we harvested Bonnie Dundee, Cardinal, Flourball, Ulster Classic, Ulster Sovereign, Dobbies Asset, Doon Peril, Lord Rosebery, Tuskar, Ryecroft Purple, Dark Red Norland, Peach Bloom, Edgecote Purple, Beauty of Bute, Pentland Lustre, Gladstone, Highland Burgandy Red, Purple King Edward and Estima.

It was a really busy day but well worth it.

Tomorrow we will be lifting some Pentland Javelin.

Charlotte are great potatoes

We have had one of our best crops ever of Charlotte seed potatoes.
The crop are a very seedy sample and have a great skin finish.
Charlotte are now the most popular UK salad potato and it is easy to see why.

Harvesting has started

Finally we have started to harvest next seasons potatoes.
We have cleared a small field of Pentland Javelin and we are now onto Arran Pilot which are a very seedy sample.
I will keep you updated as the harvesting continues.

NVS potato champion

Here are some pictures of the winning plates of potatoes at the 2009 national vegetable society show as exhibited by the Plumb family.
An outstanding plate of Kestrel above. Winston at the top of the page.