The potatoes were lifted yesterday. They were planted on April 24th so had just about 16 weeks in the ground. There were signs of blight on the tops so it was decided to lift them now rather than leave them for another 3-4 weeks.
The yield was every good. One complete 4ft x 15ft (1.2m x 4.58m) bed yielded 90lbs (41kg) of good looking spuds. We had already started taking a few roots from the other bed but I estimate the total yield is around 170lbs (77kg) which is a little under the usual weight.
It is always good to watch the potatoes coming out of the ground. Four months ago a single small seed tuber was planted and it multiplied into a mass of good sized potatoes. It still seems like one of nature’s miracles.
A few years back I decided that the only variety worth growing on our site was Sarpo Mira as it has the best blight resistance. It has certainly proved its worth over the years and gives a reliable heavy crop.
I have often been asked why bother to grow veg as it is so cheap ( or was!) in the supermarkets. Doing a simple ‘cost benefit analysis’ is interesting to say the least. We paid £12.50 for 40 seed potatoes (20 per bed) which yielded a harvest of 170lbs (77kg.) The current price for organic new potatoes at Waitrose is £1.33/kg. So, we have ~£100 worth of potatoes from an expenditure of £12.50 which is around a 8 times increase on the investment. That seems worth it!
The amount of work involved in growing them was minimal. They we planted individually in a hole dug with a trowel. The soil was earthed up once around the growing plants. Some effort was involved in the harvest but again it was not exactly excessive. There were no other inputs apart from a wheel barrow of muck on each bed last autumn which was free. That’s it. I wish I could get that sort of return on savings; especially in four months!
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Awesome, we definitely aspire to something like this level of potato growing next year, after only a tiny dabble this year.
Well done, an inspiration to us all.
Thanks Rob. Sarpo is an exceptional variety and we have had big yields before. It has been a good year although I am a bit worried about the blight as it might affect long term storage.