many aeons ago, there was a thread on here about making bread .... it died, perhaps because man shall not live by bread alone ..... anyway, there seem to be a fair number of people on this site who enjoy cooking, so i thought to start a thread for recipes and associated topics.

i'm assuredly no expert, but i reckon i cook tolerably well, and i know that any recipe i paste here, genuinely works - even for those who can only shop from supermarkets!

a starter recipe follows ......

i use my own home-made compost, but leaven that with some standard multi-purpose stuff
chicken pellets, i am absolutely sure, are just very high nitrogen, which is NOT what is required.
something like growmore is fine, as is blood and bone and stuff like that
your garden centre will sell specialised (o'priced!) potato feed, but check out the feed balance in that - high potassium? - and then buy something sensibly priced

very important to keep the potatoes well-watered without waterlogging them
specialised potato bags should already have plenty of drainage holes in them

once they get going, i reckon to add feed perhaps once a month, but then i'm starting with very good quality compost anyway, so you may need to do every couple of weeks

don't expect too high a yield, but they're certainly fun to grow, and the taste of course, leaves supermarket spuds for dead

i like to grow things like pink fir apple and salad potatoes
there's also a strange one that is delicious, but very silly money unless you can find it on a late special offer deal - La Bonotte

bet they arent as good as sainsburys salad potatoes which are superb.

for pretty obvious reasons, there's nothing to beat home-grown veg picked straight from the garden and into the pot

my local siansbury's is interesting
about 3 years ago, they "stole" a really good site from waitrose, but stocked only relative rubbish and anyone who wanted quality, still went to the small local waitrose or to a large one about 15 miles away

however, the sainsbury's manager had a brain and registered what people were doing
accordingly, the quality of fruit and veg is now nearly always very good indeed, and it's brought in a lot of customers
that said, apart from beer on occasion, the rest of the stuff i really wouldn't want to touch - quality just isn't good enough for me

Thanks again cynic will have a go, 1st time for everything and never too old to learn. Probably use one compost bin which is broken at the bottom for some outside. Will grow the rest in the greenhouse me thinks. I have the blood and bone stuff as well - Oh! I am quite excited, doesn't take much to please me. ha! ha!

a greenhouse will be far too hot and if your old compost bin is plastic, then that may also cause probs in the summer as it can't breathe

Back to the drawing board and find some potato grow bags cheaper than the two I have just bought for £6 each, admittedly they came with the compost so I suppose it is not too bad. Not ready to plant them yet so I have plenty of time. Cheers.

i don't know which bags you bought, but the ones i have should last several years

May I ask where did you get them from?

The two I bought are Miracle Grow Sacks - if that means anything to you. Have to feed apparently after 6 weeks.

from my local wyvale last year or the year before
certainly you should feed after 6 weeks, and as i am sure is instructed, regularly thereafter.

don't expect the massive crops that their pretty pix portray, but certainly if you do not water thoroughly and regularly, there will be a tendency to scab - unsightly but nothing much else - and also smaller yileds

Thanks again.

Just ordered some bags on line £2.99 each one is supposed to be able to use them again, we shall see. I looked at your garden centre and found them cheaper so how many spuds do you put in yours cynic - these hold 40 litres of compost. Sorry to be a pain in the butt - I really want to make a success of these.

5
i guess they're the same capacity
don't forget that the spuds are effectively being badly o'crowded so will be both greedy and thirsty

Okay I will take heed on that and feed and water them regularly. Roll on new spud time, I believe they have to be planted no later than Good Friday.

you certainly need to be chitting them now, but each variety technically has a slightly different planting time

They are sitting nicely on a window ledge upstairs getting plenty of light. These need to go in by Good Friday so they told me when I bought them.

anywhere you can put them outside where it's dry, but cooler and frost-free?
on the windowsill, you may find the shoots get very leggy and weak .... Good Friday in 18th April this year

That's some good advice from Percy Thrower. :-))

Fact sheet, may help 3m. Grown some lovely potatoes on the patio before. Also there is a sense of achievement. I think you will enjoy growing them 3m. What next an allotment? :-))

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/factsheets/gg9.php

The SPUDS have now been removed from the windowsill - thanks for letting me know Good Friday is 18th April this year, I honestly had not got a clue, hopefully they will go in by the end of March.

dc - an allotment is not what I need, I have nearly 1 acre but it is not designed for a vegetable plot as such, funnily enough I was only thinking about destroying one of the small lawns and growing veg. as I can't bend down too well to ground level with arthritis etc., I thought again. I am better doing things the way I find easiest but still enjoy the fresh air and fun. Carrots are going in next. Everyone thinks I am nuts - maybe they are correct, I get satisfaction out of growing and watching things grow, more challenging and more satisfying than dam house work. Cheers, not had a drink for 3 weeks so having a glass of wine.