Potatoes: Flowers, Varieties, Qualities
(and how to cook them... )

POTATO ARTICLES AND PICTURES
Coloured Potatoes
How to grow Potatoes
Spuds, pictures by name
Potato tubers- pictures, table
Potato Flowers - pictures, table
Potato Flowers - pictures by name
Growing potatoes......... in a no-dig bed
Growing potatoes in containers; cooking qualities
The way to prepare seed potato tubers (Loudon, 1854).
Growing potatoes from potato apples; getting new varieties
English Potatoes - how Supermarkets help our Farmers
Why tuber-grown potatoes degenerate (Large, 1940).
Basic stuff on potato viruses (Large, 1940).
The colour of potato flowers and tubers
English Potatoes available in 1847
Potatoes in Ireland: the 1700s
Potatoes in the 1600s
Potato Blight : 1948
Potato Blight, contd. : 1948
How to recognise Blight: Pictures : 2007
Genetics: Intro Flower Skin Flesh Shape An interesting cross

Dealing with Potato Blight
Potato Blight League Table
"Blight-proof" potatoes - update
Blight-proof potatoes? - the Sárpo
The Sárpo: the story continues...
More on potatoes in pots
Potatoes for the Cook
Potatoes and Dragons
Early days of the potato: Loudon, 1847
Jack Dunnett, potato breeder
Update on Nadine
Jane Galloway's Potato Show
Genetically modified (antibiotic-resistant) potatoes

FAVOURITE POTATOES
(in progress; many more to appear here)
Anya .. Arran Pilot .. Argos .. Bambino .. Bleu Auvergne .. British Queen .. Cabaret .. Catriona .. Charlotte .. Cherry Belle .. Claret .. Congo .. Cosmos .. Desiree .. Duke of York .. Dunbar .. Dunluce Elite .. Edzell Blue .. Epicure .. Flourball .. Golden Wonder .. Highland Burgundy Red .. Heather .. Home Guard .. Isle of Bute .. Isle of Jura .. Jersey Royal .. Kerr's Pink .. Kestrel .. King Edward and Red King Edward .. Linzer Delicatesse .. Majestic .. Mandel .. Maris Piper .. Mayan Gold .. Mimi .. Moulin Rouge .. Nadine .. Odenwald Blaue .. Orion .. Orla .. Osprey .. Pentland Dell .. Pentland Hawk .. Picasso .. Pink Fir Apple.. Premiere .. Puritan .. Record .. Red Duke of York .. Remarka .. Rocket .. Romano .. Rooster.. Roseval .. Royal Kidney .. Salad Blue.. Sarpo Mira.. Sarpo Axona .. Saxon .. Sharpe's Express .. Shetland Black .. Smile.. Swift .. Ulster Chieftain .. Ulster Prince .. Up-to-Date .. Valor .. Verity .. Victoria .. White Lady .. Winston .. Wilja .. Yetholm Gypsy .. Yukon Gold ..

Did you know there are more than two types of potato?
Often when you go to the shops there is a choice of two, red or white.

Did you know that the potato came from South America?

Did you know there are over 300 varieties listed in the UK and there are many more elsewhere? Seed potatoes of over 100 varieties are available commercially in the UK.

We grow two varieties on a no-dig bed under polythene, and then twenty varieties in pots. Two or three tubers are placed at the bottom of a bucket with holes drilled in the bottom, and compost is added as the potatoes shoot. Yield is about 1.5lb per pot. Not enormous, but allows us to try diverse varieties.

Click here to find more details of our experiences of growing potatoes in pots, and the cooking properties of different varieties.

Cooking quality ranges from very floury, such as British Queen or Kerrs Pink which make excellent mashed potato to very dry, such as Golden Wonder, which are good for slicing and frying in olive oil. Waxy potatoes, such as Charlotte are ideal salad potatoes and excellent cold. We get our tubers for the pots from the HDRA potato day in February.

We have been fascinated by the different colours of the flowers and tubers of potatoes. We have been taking photos of these this year.

Here is an example of the Blue salad potato flower and tuber for you to see. This potato has blue flesh! Ideal for Halloween.

Blue salad Flower Blue salad tubers

If you want to see more photos of potato flowers, then click this link.
We have photographed about 40 varieties so far.

Numerous photographs of potato tubers are shown here.
Click on the small images to see the detail.

It is important to keep the different varieties growing to maintain genetic diversity.

The European and Irish potato famines were caused by over-reliance on a very small number of potato varieties which were susceptible to blight. Genetic diversity is necessary so that disasters like this do not happen again. It is also necessary to maintain a varied genetic stock so that useful new varieties can be developed in the future. A variety with an poor flavour might have excellent blight resistance, for example - and might be used in breeding programmes.