Goji berries & potatoes

[ChrisB]

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....

[Anthony Darby]

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.

[ChrisB]

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

[Katherine J]

Hi Chris,
Lycium barbatum it's maybe not the same as  Lycium barbaRum (though it looks exacly the same on the pics)
This one (barbarum) is a weed here.

[ChrisB]

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.

[Katherine J]

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 

[Stephenb]

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).

[derekb]

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

[ChrisB]

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.

[Anthony Darby]

Edsel Blue is the only blue skinned var I've tried.

[Susan Band]

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.

[Brian Ellis]

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.

[Mick McLoughlin]

Brian,
Is this a link to the potato days?

http://thewhitchurchweb.org/potatoday/potatodays.htm

Cheers Mick

[ChrisB]

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!

[Maggi Young]

I'm getting hungry - nothing new there, then     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