THERE’S more to potatoes than the small selection usually found in supermarkets. Growing your own represents a passport for a journey of discovery, with gardeners able to take their pick from scores of cultivars, choosing between different colours, flavour profiles and varieties suited for particular culinary uses, such as chips, roasties and mash.
In addition, there are potatoes that cope well with certain pests and diseases, such as eelworm, scab and blight (a fungal disease that generally occurs during periods of high humidity later in the summer). This problem has been the particular focus of the Sárvári family from Hungary, whose impressive selection of Sarpo varieties have given fresh hope to growers in particularly badly hit areas, who previously preferred to stick to first and second earlies that tended to be less affected. There are cultivars more suited to environmental issues, too, such as low rainfall.
