Day 1 - A Happy New Year for Growing Potatoes !

A daily post of potato trivia introducing a potato variety a day.

It may seem strange to some why potatoes can be so exciting!

Maybe to gardeners, they represent the start of a new year of gardening.

Today, potatoes are grown in more than 180 countries.

The enormous range of cultivars means a small vegetable plot can produce a worthwhile crop and with a range of cultivars, it is possible to have home-grown potatoes almost all year round.

Today’s Potato trivia

Britain was introduced to the potato on 28th July 1586 when Sir Thomas Harriot Brough disembarked from a ship in Plymouth with several bags of potatoes brought back to Britain from the ‘New found land of Virginia’.

Thomas Harriott (1560-1621) was an astronomer and mathematician famous for making the first drawing of the moon through a telescope in 1609.

This voyage was his only expedition and he was a scientific adviser on the voyage.

The voyage had been to the New World which described the Western Hemisphere, especially the Americas.

He returned to Plymouth from Sir Walter Raleigh’s English colony on Roanoke Island in modern-day North Carolina where he had made detailed studies of the wildlife and potatoes.

Of this vegetable, described locally as openavk he would later write his "A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia" and in it would describe the potato as

“Openavk are kind of roots of round forme, some of the bignes of walnuts, some far greater, which are found in moist & marish grounds growing many together one by another in ropes, or as thogh they were a string. Being boiled or sodden they are very good meate.”

Today’s variety - Accord (First Early):

Accord is a very popular white early bulking variety of seed potato that produces large numbers of tubers at the root.

Accord tubers are attractively oval in shape with cream skin and flesh.

A great variety for baking, boiling and salads yet versatile enough for chips, mashing or roasts too.

Accord seed potatoes have been noted to have good resistance to common and powdery scab.

As with most first earlies, Accord can typically be harvested around 13-15 weeks from planting.

About my January Potato Journey

I am trying to build up my horticulture knowledge, all views are my own and are intended to be in a positive spirit.

The daily posts are hoped to feature varieties which are likely to be part of Nottingham Organic Gardeners Potato Day and some fun potato trivia.

Also to be my celebration of the potato and Nottingham Organic Gardeners Potato Day.