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Potatoes not cooking

ColinsdadColinsdad Posts: 3
in Fruit & veg
Over the last 10 years I have grown about 10 different varieties of early potatoes, often 3-4 different varieties in the same year; and the same variety 2-3 years running (I don't grow main crop varieties).  No matter what variety I grow the potatoes fall and disintegrate on cooking. One moment they are not cooked the next they are mush. This doesn't happen with shop bought potatoes of the same variety.

I plant some potatoes in large containers, from February onwards, and keep them frost free. For this I used compost from previous years bedding plant containers to which I've added a small amount of bone meal. Potatoes planted in the open ground receive a small amount of bone meal and growmore general fertilizer. I usually start harvesting 13 weeks after planting. Originally I thought the problem was either the climate or the soil didn't suit the variety. Surely there must be a variety suitable for my area (heavy clay in a high rainfall area in mid-Wales, with late springs). Where am I going wrong?


Posts

  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    I usually steam mine when this happens. I think they are more prone to disintegrating when they are very fresh so maybe try storing them for a few weeks before cooking.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Interesting...
    Just as a thought - have you tried steaming your spuds and see how they fare?

    What variety are you growing and where abouts are you may help others give ideas.
    I don't grow them myself

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    I do find cooking times are shorter with freshly dug new potatoes, so scrub off the dirt, boil them in their skins, take them out of the pan a little al dente, drain, return to pan, toss in a knob of butter and put the lid back on for a minute or two, where they gently steam to finish off.  Then they should be perfect. Waxy types hold together more than floury types, or do you find both going mushy?
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I agree with all the above advice re not peeling and steaming. 

    I would add that my brother is a large potato grower for the big supermarkets. He tells me that selecting the right varieties for you particular growing conditions is crucial, and advises that you ask successful gardeners/allotment holders in your area which varieties they grow.  He also says that gauging the right amount of water to apply is a fine art, (tantamount to magic ... at least, farmers use computer programmes to help make their decisions) and that too much water can make otherwise good potatoes mushy when cooked. 
    Not sure if that’s of any help or not 🙄 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Unless you are making mash, Philippa, but then again there is roast potato mash, which is delicious. Call me a dinosaur but skin-on rapidly boiled fresh charlottes with butter and salt...I’m salivating!
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    🦖  calling, clarification, I wouldn’t use charlottes for ordinary mash, thats skin off maincrop, but roasted charlottes, skin on, in olive oil, few springs of rosemary, pinch of sea salt: smashed or unsmashed, you’ve guessed it, smashing! I do grow a lot of charlottes, you might have guessed  :)
    Sorry, not really helping, jandjwoods - Dove’s point about over-watering, might that be the culprit? 
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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