Going Green
Down to earth...with Anne Morris
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| Anne Morris at the Salisbury Allotment Association flower and horticultural show. DB2693P06 |
LADY Cristl or Sharpe's Express?
With more than 140 different varieties of potato laid out before me on trestle tables in the school hall, there was obviously going to be some serious potato scrutiny.
I was attending the 10th Hampshire Potato Day, held in Whitchurch School on the last weekend in January, and I wasn't there to look lovingly at the earthy specimens, but to buy my seed stock for Spire View (my allotment).
Having a 12-rod allotment plot ensures there is plenty of space for experimentation and that meant one or two heritage varieties could end up in my basket. Salad Blue, was first grown in Scotland in the 1900s, but much more interesting is the fact that the skin and flesh are a strong, deep blue colour.
Then there is Arran Victory, dating from 1918 and named to celebrate the end of the First World War. Two of each of these will be trialled on my plot this summer, along with my favourites from last year, Orla and Pink Fir Apple, as well as the blight resistant Sárpo Mira.
Blight is the curse of the potato grower, the telltale brown spots on the leaves a precursor to complete and utter rot of the tubers.
Chris Bird from Sparsholt College was on hand to give an entertaining talk on all things to do with the humble spud, from history to growing tips, such as adding soot in the soil to deter slugs, one of the potato's main enemies.
Now for chitting my newly acquired spuds. With no garage available, my army of seed potatoes are standing like sentinels in egg boxes, (the end with the shoots uppermost), on top of the landing bookcase, the coolest and lightest place I could manage to find in the house.
And that is where they will stay until March.
Salisbury Allotments Association has a selection of seed potatoes for sale in its shop in Coldharbour Lane. Open on Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 1pm, the shop is fully stocked with all kinds of seeds for the allotment for 2008.
3:36pm Thursday 14th February 2008
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