Is it worthwhile buying seed potatoes?

Living Off The Splash

I'm not sure if I am going to grow potatoes next year.

I purchased two lots of seed potatoes from Woodies at €5 for the two. Planted them, watered them, harvested them etc.

The return per lot of seed potatoes was a mix of medium and small potatoes. About 8 kgs. The small potatoes were not worth peeling.

I could have purchased a bag of 7.5 kgs from the supermarket for €6. All would have been larger potatoes.

I also planted potatoes saved from my supermarket purchased potatoes to eat and they produced a yield equal to the yield I got from the purchased seed potatoes.

Next year I won't purchase any seed potatoes but keep some from my supermarket bought potatoes.

I will probably cut down on the number of potatoes grown and plant French beans instead.

RebelButtMunch

Living Off The Splash wrote: »

I'm not sure if I am going to grow potatoes next year.

I purchased two lots of seed potatoes from Woodies at €5 for the two. Planted them, watered them, harvested them etc.

The return per lot of seed potatoes was a mix of medium and small potatoes. About 8 kgs. The small potatoes were not worth peeling.

I could have purchased a bag of 7.5 kgs from the supermarket for €6. All would have been larger potatoes.

I also planted potatoes saved from my supermarket purchased potatoes to eat and they produced a yield equal to the yield I got from the purchased seed potatoes.

Next year I won't purchase any seed potatoes but keep some from my supermarket bought potatoes.

I will probably cut down on the number of potatoes grown and plant French beans instead.

I found an old bag new potatoes in the bottom of my cupboard this year. I planted them and got great results.

Day Lewin

Potatoes are very cheap to buy, so you have to accept that the work and investment isn't all measurable in money terms.
Homegrown spuds are very fresh, delicious, and probably contain more Vitamin C and Potassium. So, there's that.
Also, gardening is fun. But also, French beans are delicious too!

recedite

A lot of vegetable gardening is like that. You can buy a packet of carrot seeds for a fiver, spend ages sowing them, weeding them, etc, and at the end harvest the equivalent of about two small bags of carrots which you could have bought in Lidl for 99 cent each :mad:

Berries and apples give a good return for the amount of time effort.
Also something that you can pick in small amounts over time, whenever you want it, like spinach beet or purple sprouting broccoli.

Any way, now that you have the spuds, you can keep some as seed potatoes. Put them in a bucket of moss peat. By next spring they will be a bit rubbery and dehydrated, but they will recover when watered.

Living Off The Splash

I had success with my Mange Tout, french beans, very successful Chard, Spinach, Lettuce, Turnips. My beetroot and Swede are not growing as well as last year. My peas were good but I find that they are already going hard in their pods before I get around to harvesting them. Same with my Mange Tout.

I have taken all my potatoes out of the ground and planted beetroot in their place as a second crop. I am also planting new lettuce as the others are going to seed.

My Gooseberries were non existent, my raspberries O.K., my Blackcurrants good.

I will move my berries to a newer location and I have already replanted my Rhubarb in one of the potato beds.

Hocus Focus

Growing potatoes, besides the benefits mentioned above,is beneficial in the development of a new plot, as you dig to sow them, dig some more to earth them up and dig again to harvest them, giving a good quality fine tilth inwhich to grow other veg.
While seed merchants will say that their product is guaranteed weed -free, etc., I think ordinary spuds from the supermarket are fine to use and I have had as much success with them as with so-called seed potatoes