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25.01.2022 It has been another slow start to the potato patch. The spuds just aren't doing well because of my infertile, acid sand, even though I have fertilised them and added organic matter to the soil. I have decided to take a risk and spend some money on buying a heap of growbags, and start growing most of the spuds in those. I have noticed from last year, and now, that they grow so much better in them than in the ground. With grow bags I have more control over everything, from soil... fertility to weeds. The down side is that grow bags dry out faster and I will have to water more. After each season I will add the soil from the bags to the ground and that should boost the fertility by a lot. Anyway, because of the cost of the bags and the potting mix (I don't have the resources to make my own compost and it doesn't do as well as the potting mix I use) to put in them I will only be able to do it a bit at a time but it should end up better overall. With two plants per large bag, and two harvests a season they should pay for themselves quickly.

23.01.2022 Update on the potato patch. At the end of last season I thought I would experiment with leaving the tubers in the ground over winter to see if they would do well. If they did I might continue to do that so I don't have to find storage space for them in my overfull garage over the winter. Well, that was a really, really bad idea. Now I have clumps of plants coming up everywhere and it is impossible to thin them out without damaging the ones I want to keep. With the poor season... before winter it terns out that because the plants didn't produce large tubers they produced multitudes of small ones, that I missed at harvest so they are coming up everywhere. I did learn though that even though the winter was mild and I didn't get much rain here the larger tubers rotted in the ground but the smaller ones all survived. It is going to be difficult to clean up the beds after this season and I won't be doing that again, lol Secondly, I wanted to do an experiment with grow bags in which I planted a tuber of one variety (Toffee Apple) in each of three different sized growbags to see how each produce. It was going well but a couple of nights ago one of the plants was eaten down to the ground by snails so I have to wait for it to grow again while the others are much bigger. The ones that didn't get eaten are starting to get little flower buds on them already.

23.01.2022 What is a short day potato? Most plants use natural cycles to 'decide' when it is time to perform their growth and functions such as 'knowing' when to flower, to break dormancy, or to go to sleep for the winter. For example, many of our fruit trees use the number of hours under a certain temperature to know when to come out of dormancy. If you are into fruit trees you may have noticed that apple trees are usually grown in cool parts of the country. This is because they need ...Continue reading

22.01.2022 I was asked to write about how to store potatoes over winter for replanting in the spring, so here is a bit of information :) Potato storage One of the scariest things about growing your own potatoes can be knowing how to store them over the winter. There is a lot of misleading information out there that might put off beginner potato growers so I will try to set some things straight here....Continue reading

21.01.2022 Should you cut your potatoes into pieces before planting? I started an experiment three months ago with three potato pots. * In the first I planted a whole tuber * In the second I planted a tuber cut in a piece so it had an eye on it... * In the third pot I planted a pull sprout. A pull sprout is where you wait till a tuber has sprouts on it and the sprouts are big enough that they are beginning to get little root nubs at the base of the sprout. You just pull the sprout off the tuber and plant. Today I harvested them to let you know how each type of planting produces. Unfortunately when I went to transfer the photos to my computer I found that the files were corrupted so I can't show you pics :( Over all, the whole tuber produced a plant that was twice the size of the others and had three stems, as three of the eyes had sprouted. The pull sprout took the longest to start growing strongly as it has no energy from a tuber, but it did catch up to the cut tuber. Results: Because of the three stems all producing spuds the whole tuber plant produced the most tubers. But because of being in a pot, and the fact that the plant has only so much energy to put into tuber production it had the most tubers but they were all smallish. It produced 12 tubers The cut tuber had the biggest tubers, but produced less than the whole tuber plant because it only had one stem. it produced 5 tubers but they were big. The pull sprout had small tubers, probably because it took longer to grow at the start and less time to fatten them. it produces 7 small tubers. This is a good experiment to work out how to plant your spuds to get the results you want. Maybe you prefer big tubers, or lots of tubers etc. If you have the room, cutting or pull sprouts is a good way to increase your plants as you get 3-6 plants from a single tuber (depending on whether you use cutting or sprouts), so if you can get more plants out of a tuber you will still get a bigger harvest than planting a single, whole tuber. I hope I have explained that ok. It probably works out similar over all as far as weight of tubers.

20.01.2022 Hey all. I have a lot of real experience on growing vegetables on a commercial as well as backyard garden scale and I was wondering if it would be interesting to you if I add other gardening videos besides my potato growing on my Youtube channel? If you would be interested in any way what sort of things would you be interested in looking at? Anything from growing any sorts of plants, selling plants/ vegetables/ flowers, doing experiments, something else? if you might be interested what sort of things or questions would you like me to cover? I am looking for ideas if there is enough interest :)

19.01.2022 I was asked to explain the difference between determinate and indeterminate potatoes. Tomatoes (as well as a number of other vegetables) also come in determinate and indeterminate. With tomatoes a determinate plant is a bush and the fruit is produced and ripens all at once, whereas indeterminate tomatoes continue to grow and produce all through the season. Potatoes are sort of similar but there are some misunderstandings that get people into trouble. People think that potato... towers work with indeterminate potatoes because the potato plants will continue to grow and produce tubers up the stem but it is not the case. All potatoes can only produce stolons at around 10-15cm above the mother tuber and no further up the stem (except in cases where the stem of the plant has been damaged). Determinate potatoes grow normally but produce all the tubers at the same time and they ripen together at around the same size. Usually the plants are smaller than indeterminates. Indeterminate potatoes usually look the same time above ground (except a bit bigger) but they produce spuds until the plants senesce (mature and start to die down). This means that when you harvest you will get tubers of all stages of maturity. This is fine as you can just use the small ones whole and cut the larger ones when cooking. Commercial potatoes are usually determinate simply because farmers and big buyers want to harvest tubers that are all around the same size and maturity. And also, determinates tend to die down all at the same time whereas indeterminates take longer to die down and can be harder to plan harvest for. Sorry, I don't have pics to show you the difference. I will make sure to take some good pics this coming harvest.

19.01.2022 Why you should buy your seed potatoes each year When you grow potatoes it is really tempting to either save some of your crop for replanting, or to just get some cheap spuds from the supermarket to start your crop in spring. Sure, you can do that, but, there is a really good reason why you shouldn't. DISEASE...Continue reading

18.01.2022 Yesterday I put up a new video on Youtube showing how I make one of my more basic concrete pots, for those who might like to do something similar to sell for a bit of pocket money. It is 35mins long. This coming Monday I will give you a short video telling you about a garden/plant related income idea that you will probably have never thought of, and if you did you would probably think you wouldn't be able to do it. Check out my Garden larder channel every Monday for a new gar...den related money making idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg2jsumjWMc

17.01.2022 Just an update on the potato patch. I have taken some risks that didn't pay off and made a heap of mistakes this season but I have learned from them and I have a plan to do much better now. I never guessed that growing spuds in a back yard would be so much harder than growing them on the farm. And hey, look, I have been learning some basic editing and will be getting much better now, lol. https://youtu.be/m_640VjtdO4

17.01.2022 For those who have been waiting, I started harvesting my Toffee Apple potato variety yesterday. Tubers will be available to buy so you can grow them yourself from 15th Dec. Please note that due to regulations I am only allowed to sell them for growing in Victoria, and not in potato restricted zones. In other states you can only buy tubers for eating. This is because I am not allowed into the certified seed potato scheme. I even made a video of digging up one bed. I am getting better at videos, lol https://youtu.be/xNM4T_C6OdA

17.01.2022 This one was grown from TPS last year and I kept it for the colour even though it is not a great producer. The skin is pink and purple, and among the cream coloured flesh is splashes of blue - not purple blue like most so called' blue' potatoes, but real navy blue. And it stays during cooking. Unfortunately it has shown some hollow heart this season but I think that was caused by a couple of bad setbacks while it was growing. These plants got hammered by RLEM.... But even though it takes bad conditions to get hollow heart you have to keep in mind that it is obviously more prone than most other varieties. Anyway, I should have some tubers of this variety if anyone wants to experiment with growing or breeding from it in the winter.

16.01.2022 Just a quick update. Some of the potatoes are starting to tuberise now. A little later than I expected but maybe the cool weather has put them behind. I also have one this year with unusual, creamy yellow flowers. I hoped that the camera would pick up the yellow to show you but it didn't. Oh well. It is creamy yellow with light purple shading in the centre.... I planted out some of my seedlings yesterday between showers and will do a few more tomorrow. They have been a bit slow to grow with the cold nights so far but I guess the weather has to warm up soon. With limited room I only have space to plant out 100 of each tetras and diploids but it is better than nothing.

15.01.2022 This is the newest potato I am releasing next season - ‘Nellie’ I couldn’t think of a name for it so I did a naming competition on Linkedin and the lady I drew named it after herself. This is the third that I have selected that has commercial potential for market gardeners - produces well, good sized tubers, easy to peel. Though the flesh colour makes it a bit of a novelty type. ... I love the strong purple flesh that turns bright blue when boiled, and also has a great flavour. A winner in my books though really only appeals to people who love unusual coloured vegetables, lol. Now that I have proved it over a couple of years I have applied to register it with OSSI.

15.01.2022 What is 'Running Out'? I have mentioned the term 'Running Out' in potatoes a couple of times but I don't think I have actually described just what it is. Before the 1930s farmers had noticed that when they keep planing tubers from their own crops that they had saved, every year the productivity would fall (less, and smaller tubers) until eventually the crop would be unviable and the farmer would have to buy the newest variety developed and go through the process again. They ...called this process of falling productivity 'Running Out'. Of course now we know it is caused by a build up of virus in the plants, but back then they knew that this strange disease was called virus but without the ability to actually see them much of their knowledge about viruses was speculation. I have some old farmers almanacs from the early 1930s and was interested to read a couple of articles written by farmers and scientists from the old CSIRO (when they did science to help, rather than being a profit making entity) discussing how to limit the effects of running out so farmers could continue to grow the one variety for longer with less productivity loss. Over time farmers had noticed a lot of things about how viruses worked and discovered ways to limit it that we still use today. These can be useful to people who don't have the means to send samples off for testing. One of the things farmers noticed, then scientists used to trial, was to grow a separate small crop of potatoes just for using as seed potatoes for their next crop. It was noticed that viruses moved very slowly through plants so if they harvested fast growing, immature tubers they would have a crop the next year that would likely have little loss in production. Immature tubers, as well as growing tips of the plants have very little virus burden. They also used good hygiene practices like roguing out sick looking plants and the surrounding plants as soon as they were noticed, and separating potato crops with paddocks. One of the things we can do as home gardeners and market growers can do to limit running out in their own gardens (if you don't buy certified seed potatoes every year but I suggest you do) is to replant the biggest tubers from the healthiest plants every year. This makes it easy to see if your tubers are smaller than the last year and if you notice that you need to get new, clean tubers (not from the supermarket or farmers market) and plant them in a different area of the garden. The reason for planting only the biggest from the best is that if you heap all the tubers from all your plants together and there is a plant with a high virus burden, you can inadvertently plant some affected tubers, and next year if you do the same you will have an even bigger percentage of affected tubers. Remember that some plants don't show virus infection strongly so you may not be able to tell from the foliage, especially if you don't know what to look for. I hope this information is helpful to you.

14.01.2022 It has been a shocking spring summer season for my TPS seedlings. The nights were too cold for them to grow properly before Christmas, and they never really recovered. They are looking green and healthy now and the summer was milder then the past few summers but they still didn't grow properly. By now I should have harvested the day neutral ones and replanted for a second crop, but those are just tuberising now and will be too late to crop again. I will just have to leave the...m in the ground after harvesting in a couple of months and wait till next spring to assess them. There are some that are tuberising but the majority seem to be short day ones and will not start for another month. TPS generally have bigger tubers in their next year here even if they have grown well.

13.01.2022 Just sharing a picture of some of my varieties this year and the range of colours. I didn't get the range of shapes that I usually have but I guess I just selected them out last season. I should get a lot more shapes in the seedlings I have growing, but I won't know for two or tree more months yet.

12.01.2022 Letting you know that I will be closing my online potato store in a few days in case you want to make a last minute order. I will be reopening it in July/August for spring planting. I will have a few more varieties in stock then.... www.gardenlarder.com.au

10.01.2022 My store for seed potatoes is now open if anyone would like to try some new varieties. Most have limited packets available for now - I am holding some plants back to ripen their seed pods. If a variety that you really want is out of stock pop back in in a couple of weeks or so. I expect them to go quickly so please don't be disappointed if you miss out this round, I will be adding more during the next month.... Because I harvested them a little early to get tubers ready to sell now, they are on the small side but still fine for planting. www.gardenlarder.com.au

09.01.2022 The flesh colour might disgust some people but the artist/weird things lover in me adores it. It is yellow heavily marbled with red. Stays that colour with cooking. I haven't thought of a name for it yet but I am sure I will before it goes on sale in a few days, lol

09.01.2022 The price of bland produce When a tomato is a tomato is a tomato, or a potato is a potato is a potato, then why should we expect consumers to care about what vegetables they are buying? How to get excited in the kitchen? or why it matters? As an Australian consumer and also as an independent potato breeder, it worries me that when you go into a supermarket you see a limited selection of any fruit or vegetable, often only one type of item. Maybe someone goes into a supermarket... and sees red potatoes and white potatoes and it tricked into thinking that that is all there is. They don't know that potatoes come in many varieties, each with their own cooking qualities, flavour, and look. I understand that it is easier for Supermarkets to offer no selection, no need to think, and no need to educate their customers, and great for logistics. But the fact that these businesses lay the blame for the lack of varietal diversity on their customers, saying that they are just selling what their customers demand, makes my grate my teeth. It is actually the supermarkets that are training people to believe that a potato is a potato is a potato, just for conveniences sake. No wonder people are moving away from cooking and interest in food - and buying fresh produce. When you make all the produce you offer bland then people become afraid to try new things, and it can take months of seeing something different for them to finally try it. I see fresh items in supermarkets come and go on occasion with no time for customers to get used to them enough to try. I believe it is supermarkets trying to make us believe that they are innovating, when they are actually doing the opposite. It is difficult but I think that all us fruit and vegetable breeders, as well as consumers should be getting on social media and spreading the word about exciting varieties - show people how to use red, bicoloured, and purple potatoes or lemon and pear flavoured melons, etc. If the general public doesn't see what is available then why should they ask for varieties that suit them, their recipes, and their taste buds? It is time to encourage people to look for and ask for old and new varieties by showing then what you can do with them, and getting these vegetables onto cooking shows and blogs. make them force supermarkets to get imaginative and to work for their customers. It is time for consumers and breeders to rise up and demand better flavoured produce.

08.01.2022 Advice for those who bought potato seed from me last year. I should have mentioned this earlier, but you should not have found it yet. You may get some seedlings showing this problem as they grow, yellow patches on the leaves. Although it looks a bit like a virus it is actually a stress response to growing or weather conditions. Most breeders just pull them out as no-one wants plants that get stressed very easily.... The reason for this response is that the potatoes I grow are mostly primitive types and not selected for growing well outside their native area, unlike modern potatoes. I mostly see this problem when I get weather changes from hot to cold or vice versa, even an out of season light frost can cause it. If you leave them in the ground they will grow new, good leaves but then get the yellowing at the next stressful period. It is nothing to worry about and you can grow them if you want, but you have to ask yourself if they are worth bothering with. Sometimes if their first season is good then they might show this if they get a setback of any sort in their next year which is why you should grow all seedlings for around three years before selling or giving away tubers for other people to grow.

08.01.2022 Whew, the start of September is potato planting time here. I am kicking myself that I didn't do any maintenance to the growing beds over winter, they're so weedy. Well, at least it will make me lose a few of the kg I put on over the restriction period, lol I'm not going to be planting any true potato seed this year and concentrate instead on last years best varieties, and a few new ones from last season that showed promise, especially the one below that seems to be a good pr...oducer as well as RLEM resistant. I really hope that this season will be better than the last. I am still so ashamed of how badly the spuds went - how can you fail at growing potatoes? At least I wasn't the only one, lol.

08.01.2022 Misunderstandings about potato greening and toxicity Most people are aware that potatoes with green on the skin should not be eaten, but not so many understand why. This short article is just to clear up the whys and hows for those who are interested. I am just giving you the basics here but if you would like a more in depth understanding I will be happy to give you a link to another article. When most potato tubers (I say most because there are a couple of varieties, though ...Continue reading

03.01.2022 Most of my varieties are starting to flower now. I am getting excited. No matter how many years you have grown them and what varieties you grow the countdown to harvest is always an impatient time. Most of my early varieties are ready to harvest 4 weeks after they start flowering.

01.01.2022 I dug a few more varieties today. Rejected one as it produced so poorly last year and again this year, kept two and brought some tubers of those in to taste test. One was fine, but nothing to get excited about... but, the other, which I was on the fence about keeping due to the small size of the tubers - the flavour!!! the flavour!! After boiling the flesh practically melts with the butter when you mash it, sooo creamy and delicious. It rivals Dutch Cream for mash flavour. Ev...en when I ate some plain boiled tuber with no flavourings, even salt, it was delicious. I couldn't believe it so I got out some more tubers and made more mash. Same result. I couldn't get enough. Of course, there is a downside - the size of the little round tubers. They are a pain to try and peel both raw and cooked. Honestly though, if you didn't have a large family I think the flavour is well worth it. When I think of a name for it today I will put it up on my shop, if anyone is interested in giving it a go.

01.01.2022 I have been getting some enquiries as to when I will have potatoes for sale so I this is an overdue update, sorry. Since last season was so horrific I don't have any for sale for this first crop but I will have them in December, in time for people to plant their second crop of the season. I have been busy moving my website to a new host but it is up and running and I will announce when the shop will be open for orders - or just pop back in December. I am going to be adding a ...lot more info to it over the next month including a lot of potato recipes and maybe videos from my Youtube channel (yes, I will start making some more short videos of my growing and harvesting soon) www.gardenlarder.com.au