Growing Stuff 5 on Rochford Life magazine

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Birds & Potatoes

We were, this week going to provide a page on different approaches to Gardening, but in the course of interviewing people on the local allotments we had our attention drawn to potatoes and through that contact were sent the information that we are including this week below. It goes outside the boundaries of Rochford and Ashingdon but because of the nature of it we felt the rules could be slightly bent and we would include it here, so for all our gardeners......

And on birds...
A little while back I commented on the absence of information on the Web about why we need birds. I came across an interesting site and e-mailed them and received an excellent answer back which we’ll save for two week’s time but the site is:
http://www.songbird-survival.org.uk/

And now potatoes.... and more

THE FIRST SE ESSEX POTATO DAY!
Saturday 19 February, 10am - 2pm
See http://www.seeog.org.uk/
In association with Leigh-on-Sea Allotment & Leisure Garden Association

Venue: Growing Together Gardens, 47 Fairfax Drive, Southend-on-Sea SS0 9AG

(Corner of Fairfax Drive and Prittlewell Chase)

Please park in Prittlewell Chase and use Fairfax Drive entrance.

Admission: £1.00

POTATO VARIETIES - did you know so many existed?
Anya: Second Early, nutty knobbly salad
Arran Victory: Organic, Late Maincrop, blue/purple skin, white floury flesh
Bonnie: Second Early, uniform smooth tubers
Cara: Organic, Late Maincrop, red-eyed, high yield, disease resistant, mild flavour
Colleen: Organic, First Early, waxy, reasonable blight resistance
Charlotte: Organic, Second Early, waxy salad, first-class flavour
Desiree: Organic, Early Maincrop, the world’s most popular red, vigorous, fairly waxy, strong flavour
Estima: Second Early, has destroyed the myth that a yellow waxy potato could not be popular in Britain
Golden Wonder: Late Maincrop, very dry, floury and very tasty
Home Guard: First Early, an early early best eaten early!
Kerr’s Pink: Late Maincrop, tall, robust, fine grained, floury
Kestrel: Second Early, good disease resistance including partial double eelworm and slug resistance
King Edward: Early Maincrop, England’s best known variety since the Coronation
Lady Christl: First Early, lots of early firm waxy pale yellow tubers, stores well
Majestic: Early Maincrop, the most popular variety of the 20th Century
Marfona: Second Early, high yielding, waxy baker, large tubers, stores well
Maris Piper: Early Maincrop, yield and flavour, very prone to scab and slug damage
Orla: First Early, some blight resistance, high yield, scab resistant
Pentland Dell: Early Maincrop, high yielding, good slug resistance
Pentland Javelin: Organic, First Early, with flavour, tuber number and resistance
Picasso: Early Maincrop, large tubers, red-eyed, big yields, good keeper, mild taste
Pink Fir Apple: Organic, Late Maincrop, main crop, salad, good flavour, knobbly
Red Duke of York: Organic, First Early, vigorous plant, wonderful flavour, dry
Rocket: First Early, large crops, double eelworm resistance but very prone to tuber blight, mild flavour
Ryecroft Purple: Bright purple round/short oval late Main Crop with classic white flesh
Salad Blue: Organic, Early Maincrop, vigorous all blue, oval tubers, high dry matter
Sarpo Mira: Organic, Late Maincrop, extremely blight and virus resistant, floury, some slug resistance, drought tolerant
Stemster: Pale red Early Maincrop, high yields, good disease and drought resistance
Stroma: Second Early, high yields, mild flavour, good cooking qualities, disease resistance
Swift: First Early, best variety for growing under polythene or in pots, good disease resistance
Valor: Organic, Late Maincrop, disease resistant, mild flavour
Wilja: Second Early, high yields, good boiling, white flesh, floury flavour
Yukon Gold: Second Early, yellow, baking and frying, buttery flavour
* Please be aware that all varieties are subject to availability

SOUTH EAST ESSEX ORGANIC GARDENERS
EXTRACTS FROM THE NEWSLETTER NO: 95 – JANUARY 2011

http://www.seeog.org.uk/

SE Essex Organic Gardeners
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=43705483846
Southend Food Growers (and producers)
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=10150117854010788

SEEOG was formed in 1994, to promote the principles of organic gardening by:

· Composting organic waste

· Protecting wildlife

· Reducing pollution

· Encouraging species diversity

Membership is currently £8.00 per annum, £12.00 family.

Allotments Regeneration Initiative
“We work with absolutely anyone involved in regenerating or creating allotments – all of our services are free to not-for-profit organisations throughout the UK!
If you would like to keep up to date with ARI developments please send us your postal address, organisation name and brief description of your interest in the project, stating ARI Database in the subject line.”
www.farmgarden.org.uk/ari

Green Up! Five ways to work with your council on the environment and sustainability by Agnes Gautier (download for free at www.cdf.org.uk) provides community groups with everything they need in order to work productively with their councils on environment and sustainability issues. This indispensible plain English guide explains how community groups can use everything from Local Area Agreements to Sustainable Community Strategies to get their work supported. The guide also explains all the words and vocabulary commonly used by councils, so local groups can clearly understand ‘council speak’.

Farmers’ Markets 2011

 Rochford in the WI Hall, Market Square on (Saturday) 5 March, 2 April, 7 May, 4 June, 2 July, 6 August, 3 September, 1 October, 5 November, 09:30 – 12:20

We have just been informed about another market, as follows:

Date: Every 4th Saturday in the month commencing 22 January
Time: 09:30 – 14:30
Venue: Rochford Primary & Nursery School, 6 Ashingdon Road, Rochford, SS4 1NJ

GM Watch
Website: http://www.gmwatch.org