This is the journal of my endeavours to grow a range of fruit, veg and flowers from seed, grow organically, and my attempts to create a personal paradise with 1/2 acre of maintained gardens and 1/2 acre wild meadows. Northern Ireland's average daily high temperatures are 18 °C (64 °F) in July and 6 °C (43 °F) in January. Soil type: Clay

Wednesday, 1 May 2013

Bargain Potatoes

I'm a sucker for a bargain... I bought two bags of potatoes marked down to 10 pence (about 20 US cents) a bag. A bargain? (Hopefully.)
I like Maris Peer potatoes and when I saw them reduced to 10 pence I quickly grabbed two bags as the shop was closing. The potatoes have long spindly roots growing from them, and the actual potatoes aren't as firms as they should be. I'm wondering if my bargain potatoes are worth planting?

I was thinking about trimming off some of those long roots and planting them in grow bags.
I'm wondering if my bargain is too good to be true or if their condition won't matter? Any suggestions welcome. 

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.
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11 comments:

  1. Casa Mariposa1 May 2013 at 17:58

    I'd give it a try and see what happens. Think of it as an experiment. :o)

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  2. Jo@awholeplotoflove1 May 2013 at 22:55

    It would have been a shame to leave them there at that price. I forgot about my main crop varieties (planted yesterday in shame)I found them in a corner & they had long spindly roots. Some of the roots I left on & others I took off. I'm sure I planted in a similar haphazard fashion several years back & I got a crop.

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  3. David Shinn1 May 2013 at 23:45

    Kelli,I bought some "well chitted" slightly soft ones like this a couple of years back and they still produced a healthy crop.
    If you are not planting them in open ground ,rather than grow bags I'd go for pots.These are less accessible to slugs and you can gradually "earth up" the compost/soil level without needing a large amount from the outset.

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  4. Lindac2 May 2013 at 00:20

    They'll be fine Kelli, I've planted Potatoes looking like that and had plentiful crops before now. Shame blight has put me off planting them for the last couple of years though.

    Linda

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  5. Sue Garrett2 May 2013 at 01:09

    Just go for it - you don't need a huge crop to recoup the 10p

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  6. Janneke 2 May 2013 at 02:43

    Your potatoes will grow as good as always, the roots are no problem at all. If possible, I should grow them in the open. I don't grow potatoes anymore in my garden, the soil is not so good and you have to change their place every year, I have not enough room. Clay soil is the best for delicious potatoes, but usually they grow in all sorts of soil. I do not know the Maris Peer. Wish you good luck they were only 10p.

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  7. Jo2 May 2013 at 06:34

    What a bargain. Definitely plant them up, I bet you get a great crop.

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  8. Egretta Wells blog3 May 2013 at 14:19

    Good luck with your seed potatoes. What a bargain! You'll probably have the best potato crop ever!!

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  9. Mark Willis3 May 2013 at 22:53

    If it were me, I'd plant the potatoes, but now spend too much on compost or growbags - just put them in the soil somewhwere.

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  10. elaine 5 May 2013 at 21:59

    You can't go wrong for 10p Kelli what have you got to lose.

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  11. Paula @ Blooms 'n' Spades6 May 2013 at 00:58

    10p! You can't really go wrong with a bargain like that. I'm sure they'll be fine to plant, they're such resiliant vegetables. Every year I think I've dug up the very last one and every year, a few pop up from the previous year.

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