Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: ChrisB on January 03, 2008, 08:54:02 PM
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Hi, I've just been reading today about goji berries which I now know are Lycium barbatum thanks to the internet (no mention in the T&M catalogue of their real name). It appears they are hardy shrubs. If anyone knows anything helpful about how to grow them, can you let me know please?
Also, I'm about to order potatoes. I somehow seem to get the wrong ones every year. What I'm looking for are 1st earlies and 2nd earlies that have a creamy substance a bit like Jersey Royals, that can be boiled for using in potato salad or as whole new potatoes. Again, any help will be much appreciated....
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We had a fantastic crop of Arran Pilot this year in the allotment. Not exactly a new potato 'type' though. Have you tried Pink Fir Apple? I know it's a main crop but its is a nice wee cutie. Pentland Javelin is quite good too.
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Thanks Ant. I'll take a look at those. I've not grown any of them before. T&M are offering small bags of tubers and I have limited space for potatoes but I do like to grow a few. Had terrible ones this year, they just disintegrate when boiled, and don't do terribly well baked either. Waste of time they were. Thanks again
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Hi Chris,
Lycium barbatum it's maybe not the same as Lycium barbaRum (though it looks exacly the same on the pics) :o ???
This one (barbarum) is a weed here.
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Hi Katherine,
Yes, you are quite correct, it is L. barbarum. Do you eat the berries, and if so, are they pleasant to the taste? They have become an 'in' thing with many health claims. Never heard of them before, and just wondered what they'd be like to grow and eat.
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Hello Chris,
This is an extremely unassuming plant, but mostly likes dry conditions. It is quite aggressive and thorny, and forms rapidly an impenetrable scrub. Honestly I don't like it at all. I have never eaten its' berries, they are small and qiute hard to collect (because of the thorns). Also the flowers are very small.
But if you would like to, I don't think you would have problems with its' cultivation, is a very easy plant endeed. I also can send you seeds next autumn if you want ;D
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I have both barbarum and the closely related Lycium chinense (Chinese Wolfberry) in my garden here in Norway. Both have successfully negotiated winters down to -20C without any frost damage. However, I've yet to see flowers on the barbarum even though it's well over 10-years old (from seed)
L. barbarum is also known as Duke of Argyll's Tea Tree and I'm sure the Scots on this forum will want to tell you a great deal about the 3rd Duke of Argyll who introduced the plant to the UK in the 1730s!
The leaves of both species are used for herbal teas and chinense is supposed to taste like peppermint, but mine doesn't, so perhaps it's not chinense after all.
Pink Fir Apple is also my favourite potato (for taste and the amusing forms the tubers sometimes have, some so amusing that I've been known to collapse into uncontrollable laughter garden fork in hand). Here's a picture of my son (he's now in his 20's) with a particularly "knobbly" one (sorry, poor resolution), organically grown, of course :) However, I've not had much success with it in recent years as it's not very tolerant of blight... (it was much more fun when I was younger...)
Blue potatoes are also fun (this is a variety called Blaa Congo grown in Norway for a long time)
However, nowadays we mostly grow good old King Edward, almost unknown here in Norway, but an important variety in Sweden. We also grow Arran Pilot (would like to get Red Arran Pilot Elite again - lost it a few years back).
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Hi Chris,
For the potatoe try Charlotte I have grown them for the past 15 years they are classed as a Salad so have a cream flesh but I plant early March and dig in June but if you let them grow on they will grow into a good size and keep I am still eating mine now.
Derek
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Interesting responses folks. T&M have the lycium barbarum on offer three bushes for ten quid. I'm wondering now whether to bother.... I think its time I tried these Pink Fir Apples, they sound like a lot of fun if nothing else. With my very sandy soil I don't have too much trouble with wet and disease, its hard to keep them we enough to grow actually. Thanks again for the very useful info.
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Edsel Blue is the only blue skinned var I've tried.
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A bit of useless information on King Edward Potatoes. They were developed by a Mr King and a Mr Edward, nothing to do with royaltiy. Information gleaned from the well known Fife gardener and storyteller Willie Duncan.
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Hello Chris, sorry I have only just seen this thread on the website. You might be interested in Potato Day. Down in East Anglia it is organised by the local Organic Societies and I think this year is about the 5th February. I believe it is a feature of their planning around the country so there might well be one near you. They are well organised events and tubers are on sale individually, this means if you have a small garden (or don't eat many) you can have a variety of tubers without having to buy large amounts as in garden centres. Available as you queue to go in is Alan Romans' Guide to seed potato varieties (try alanromans.com) which is a very informative guide to varieties covering the following -yield, tuber shape, eye depth, skin colour, flesh colour,resistance to disease, slugs etc So for Pink Fir Apples the following information is listed
"PINK FIR APPLE (1850) Late Maincrop France? Germany?
Now well known but this salad, originally imported, was kept going solely by British enthusiasts for decades because of its very fine flavour. Nowadays plenty of certified seed is available. Very knobbly - should be cooked whole - delicious hot or cold. Decadence is making chips with individual tubers!
There is also information for it on Tuber shape - long Eye depth quite deep skin colour pink (no surprise there then) Flesh Colour Mid yellow Dry Matter (ie starch content) 4/9 Disintegration very resistant Potato cyst nematode susceptible
Do see if you can find a potato day in your area, we have grown several that we would not have thought of trying and had some pleasant surprises!
It dfescribes about 160 different varieties and is a very handy reference booklet.
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Brian,
Is this a link to the potato days?
http://thewhitchurchweb.org/potatoday/potatodays.htm
Cheers Mick
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Wow. I never knew the King Edwards were so named. Fascinating isn't it? They must have had quite a good sense of humour too to decide on that name!
I'll try to get to the Kelso Potato day in borders, that is closest for me without having to negotiate traffic around Newcastle/Gateshead. Would be great to get just a few tubers of a few varieties to try out this year. I usually get them from my local allotment club at Red Row but last year they were terrible, hence the post.
Thanks again folks, lots of good info. Sorry this is nothing to do with alpines, but hey, neither are a lot of other threads lol. Happy New Year all!
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I'm getting hungry - nothing new there, then :P Pink Fir apples are a real favourite of ours- yummy!
The blue Scottish tattie (potato) is EDZELL Blue, rather than Anthony's spelling. Edzell being a village to the north of Brechin, in Angus, Scotland.
I've seen these Goji berries in the shops and read a little about their supposed virtues though I haven't tried them yet- another thing on my many lists ::)
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What happens when you cook these blue potatoes, do they still look blue when you go to eat them or does the colour disappear?
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Chris I agree with the others Pink fir apple is an excellent late potato that tastes like an early. I am going to try Home guard this year as the other variety as I too am fed up with the poor performance of some of the more modern varieties.
I haven't tried the star trek coloured ones and would appreciate any views as to allotmentworthiness ie taste etc
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Chris, Edzell Blue is blue skinned ( or even quite a dark purple blue) but the flesh is white. I think the blue spud, "Salad Blue" does have a blue flesh after cooking... :P
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What happens when you cook these blue potatoes, do they still look blue when you go to eat them or does the colour disappear?
Yes, they keep their colour. The look on the face of an unsuspecting guest when they are served up mashed blue potatoes or blue chips means that it's worth growing even if the taste had been revolting, but actually the taste is pretty good too. Here is a picture of one of my creations which I call "BBBP" or Blood Burger Blue Potatoes for the uninitiated (the potatoes were steamed). Despite the name it is a 100% vegetarian dish, the burgers being made with beetroot...
This potato is probably what you would call a 2nd early and should be harvested as soon as possible as it's susceptible to blight, scab etc.
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Wow, thats some dish! Must try a few I think, worth it to see the look on the faces of guests (and hubby for that matter).
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Mum has been known to serve up the Scottish Saltire to some of our guests from south of the border.
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Brian,
Is this a link to the potato days?
http://thewhitchurchweb.org/potatoday/potatodays.htm
Cheers Mick
Yes indeed Mick, sorry I didn't reply earlier as we were out. There is a publications section on Alan Romans site where you can obtain the latest potato guide for £1.50 if my memory serves me rightly.
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Unlike you northern hemisphere types I am now digging my new potatoes rather than thinking about planting them. As befits someone whose ancestors left Ireland and came to New Zealand following the potato famine I do not feel secure unless I have enough spuds in the ground to feed my family for the entire year. Its in the genes I think. This year we did not quite make it. We bought one small box of new potatoes for Christmas as our own crop was a bit delayed. I grow Desiree which has red skin and yellow flesh, I used to grow Red King (Red King Edward) which is a very popular potato in this part of the world and is still favoured by many, ( I doubt if Dave Toole eats anything else) but found it needs a lot of water to yield well. Desiree is more reliable in terms of its yield and is very versatile for cooking, The other potato I grow is Red Rascal which is red-skinned and white-fleshed. It is a better keeper than Desiree so one can last until the new crop come in about Christmas. I grew something called Rocket one year as an early crop, It matured quickly like the man in the garden shop said it would but by the time I finished the row they tasted absolutely vile.
There are some New Zealand bred varieties like Rua and Karaka as well as several varieties of so called Maori potato. These are very old varieties that arrived here with the first European visitors. The Maoris were very quick to adopt the potato as their main root crop, kumara did not grow south of Christchurch and they had to rely on fern root (Bracken) much of the time for carbohydrate. There has been a recent revival of interest (fad) growing these Maori potatoes mainly for their novelty value but so far fern root has not made a comeback.
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most interesting Dave, especially about the Maori potatoes.
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Had to Google "Maori Potatoes" - interested to see what they look like. This is what I found:
http://kaiarahi.massey.ac.nz/pics/Photos/tutai08.jpg
Small world!
I also forgot to wish everyone a very Happy New Year of the Potato:
http://www.potato2008.org/en/index.html
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Earlier quote from David Lyttle "I used to grow Red King (Red King Edward) which is a very popular potato in this part of the world and is still favoured by many, ( I doubt if Dave Toole eats anything else)".
Not so David !--being a true blue,(excuse the pun), Southlander i've also been know to eat a swede or two as well,(raw or roasted of course--boiling them -yuk alters the taste).
Ah !!! the humble swede...i could rant on and on but this topic is about Goyi berries and taties.
Cheers dave
(At home because of a crook back)
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I am delighted to be able to wish you all a very successful Year of the Potato... thank you Stephen for this info .
tOOlie, sorry about your back, Ian says he will be gentle with you ::)
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Not so David !--being a true blue,(excuse the pun), Southlander i've also been know to eat a swede or two as well,(raw or roasted of course--boiling them -yuk alters the taste).
(At home because of a crook back)
Many years ago, I visited a museum in Suva, Fiji and one of the exhibits was the shoe of the last missionary to have been eaten (I think he was a Swede). Hadn't realised that cannabalism is still alive and well (?) in New Zealand. Can't imagine they taste that nice raw either...
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Up here Swedes are referred to as turnips or 'neeps' and are served bashed with haggis and bashed tatties.