Day 3 - Potato Pete

Potato Pete - Victory in the Kitchen - A WW2 Cartoon Character.

Britain’s Ministry of Information generated material to influence the population towards the support of the war effort during World War Two (1939-1945).

A wide range of media was employed aimed at local and overseas audiences.

Traditional forms such as newspapers and posters were joined by new media including cinema (film), newsreels and radio.

‘Potato Pete’ became one of the most popular characters in Britains ‘Dig For Victory’ campaign and together with Doctor Carrot helped WW2 food campaigning.

The ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign was dreamt up to support that effort, with green spaces across Britain turned into vegetable patches.

Food was ‘ammunition of war’ and with imports hit hard by the attacks on shipping convoys, home-grown food became of crucial importance.

The potato was a pillar of the UK’s war effort. This is because it was easy to grow, breaking the reliance on food imports, it’s versatile, and it’s one of the most efficient crops in terms of land use.

They had to work out how to sell potatoes to the public and hence came Potato Pete and his recipe book.

Both Potato Pete and Doctor Carrot had their own song to further convey their message, sung by Betty Driver.

Radio broadcasts encouraged the nation that growing your own food was a form of recreation, not wartime sacrifice.

Betty Driver would continue her fame with a 42-year acting role behind the bar in the Rovers Return in Coronation street as Betty Williams.

Today’s variety - Blaue Annelise (Maincrop)

Available soon from our online shop.

Blaue Annelise is a fairly recent blue/purple-fleshed coloured introduction (2007) from Germany which gives long-oval tubers with deep blue flesh and skin.

A mild slightly creamy flavour and a nutty aroma.

The tubers are elongated with sunken eyes they are thick-skinned, and thus keep well.

Cooking qualities: Tasty & fluffy with a creamy flavour and nutty aroma.

Salad, roast, blue mash.

Day 2 - Space Potatoes

Potatoes are credited as the first vegetable grown in space.

In 1995, a team of researchers clipped 10 leaves from a potato plant, nestled them into beds of moistened soil, and shot half of them into space on the Space Shuttle Columbia.

Decades of research had already hinted that plants could, in fact, flourish outside of Earth’s atmosphere.

Within a couple weeks, the stems of the five cuttings that had remained here on Earth had swollen into golf ball-sized potatoes.

And, orbiting a few hundred miles off the surface of Earth, their weightless counterparts did the same.

The extra-terrestrial taters would eventually make their way back to Earth, where a battery of tests would reveal that the space tubers were normal.

In fact, as pictured they were nearly indistinguishable from their grounded tubers in most respects.

Today’s variety - Aura (Second early):

A French variety dating back to the 1950s.

Renowned for the wonderful flavour and firm cooking characteristics.

They have an interesting and eye-catching half-moon shape.

Long shaped, pale yellow skin, yellow flesh tubers with perfect cooking characteristics.

Ideal for roasting, chipping, boiling and steaming.

It has a high resistance to common scab.

Potato Day Shop 2021 HERE

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.

Mr Phipps Potato Posts - Jan 2021

Happy New Year!

A great year for growing potatoes!

I hope to do a daily post through January of potato trivia, introducing a potato variety a day.

About my January Potato Journey:

I am a NOGs member and 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.