Spuds and Flowers @ Prospect Cottage.

Every year we grow some Potatoes in bags. A few inches of compost in the bottom of a sack, holes in bag to allow drainage, pop in 3 or 4 Potatoes per bag, cover with compost and there you have it. The ones above are Sarpo Mira. They were topped up with compost twice as they grew. They were not treated for blight and only now are they getting some spots on leaves.

They were harvested last week and as you can see there were lots of lovely little pink potatoes to be gathered. We emptied the bags into the wheelbarrow for easy access.

This lot is from one bag which contained 3 seed Potatoes. The Potatoes are small but I do find the bags don’t produce big Spuds.

This is the total from the 4 bags, a little over 10 lbs. Not bad for very little effort, delicious little organic Potatoes from our own garden.

The resulting barrowload of compost was used to top up one of the veg beds.  I love little garden experiments like this, it proves you can grow spuds anywhere even without a garden.

In the long border this pink Astible is blooming,

and outside the polytunnel this container of Cosmos continues to provide colour. I love Cosmos and will save seeds from these for next years crop.

Growing the Humble Spud @ Prospect Cottage.

The Potatoes which we planted in the polytunnel in April, covering with rushes instead of soil, (see post of 11th April), have come on well. They are Sarpo Mira, bred by the Sarvani family in Hungary, who have been breeding blight and virus resistant potatoes for over 50 years. In the coming week these will be mulched with more rushes. I had thought the rushes might be a hiding place for slugs but that has’nt happened, the frogs in the polytunnel must be doing their work well!

The potatoes which were planted outside in bags on St. Patrick’s Day, (see post of 21st March), are doing great. They have been topped up with compost a few times and hopefully there will be a good crop. We usually have the first of the earlies at the Summer Solstice. Less than a month to go! Organic seed, growing organically.

While on the topic of the humble Spud I have been reading about Greenpeace’s battle to stop BASF, the biotech giant, from planting the GM potato Amflora in Sweden. This Potato was approved for planting by the EU in 2010 without any independent studies done on it’s safety. There are worries that the Potato contains a gene which produces an enzyme which gives resistance to several antibiotics.  Amflora’s main use is for potato starch which is used in the production of paper, packaging and adhesives. The Potato will not enter the human food chain is the company claim. However, the recycling of the waste from the starch production IS permitted to be used in animal feeds. Surely some of these animals will be part of the food chain for people who consume meat? Worrying indeed!!

Meanwhile in Sweden the police came to the warehouse where the protest was happening and arrested each and every individual there. They were later released and returned to continue the blockade. I find it amazing that police forces all over the World are at the beck and call of these corporations.

Check out the full story on www.greenpeace.org