THE stands selling potatoes are always popular at the Farmers’ Market every Saturday, and it is surprising to see how many varieties are available.

Most garden centres have potatoes for planting from now until the end of September. I suggest you do not plant them all in one go, but a few or even a different variety each week over a period. Potatoes have different varieties suited for all the various culinary delights from baking, roasting or cold with summer salads.

My 1880 copy of the English “The Gardener’s Chronicle” uses the spelling “potatos”, without the “e”, which must have been added at a later date.

At that time, you could buy peonies for six shillings each, climbing roses for four shillings and strawberry plants for two and sixpence per 100. Some of the varieties of potatoes for sale were “Snowflake”, “Myatt’s Prolific”, “Redskin” and “Fortyfold”. To my knowledge, these are no longer available and, indeed, many varieties were lost in the spread of potato blight in the 1800s and the great potato famine.

Since that time, with modern breeding, there are literally hundreds of named varieties available. One regular exhibitor at the Royal Horticultural Society’s shows in the UK shows more than 350 distinct varieties neatly displayed and labelled in miniature wheat bags.

IN Canberra, just a few of the varieties now available include “Nicola”, “Cranberry Red”, “Banana”, “Pink fir apple”, “Ruby Lou” plus the old favourites such as “King Edward”, “Sebago”, “Pontiac” and “Dutch Cream”, which I understand is very popular locally. In Holland, potatoes are called Aardappel or “apple of the earth”.

I have selected these few from a stand shown here with more than 15 varieties. Potatoes are still a staple diet in many parts of the world and where would the likes of McDonalds be without potatoes!

AS an extension to the Chelsea Flower Show in London – and to keep folk in the city for a longer period – the first Chelsea Fringe Festival was launched in May.

Following immediately after Chelsea, it “burst out of the Royal Horticultural Society’s showground and spread the excitement and energy that fizzes around Chelsea Flower Show time.

Anything went – from avant-garde art to community projects – so long as it was about gardens, flowers, edible plants and/or landscape. As an example, more than 250 gardens in London from the smallest to corporate gardens not generally open to the public entered into the fun.

Potted holes

ONE item for local interest was Steve Wheen, known as the “pot hole gardener”, who ran tours of guerrilla-garden scenes involving pot holes in London’s roads. Part of his tour was building pot-hole gardens. Wow, what a challenge for Canberra, the wholesale growers would never be able to supply enough plants! What a totally mad idea, playing “chicken” and seeing if you can plant the flowers before getting run over. Or will drivers enter into the spirit of the theme and drive each side of the floral pot hole?

This week, think Daphnes

•  If your Daphne leaves are turning yellow it is almost certainly the old leaves shedding as the new spring growth appears.
• If any plant’s leaves have yellow between the green veins it is almost certainly lack of magnesium. The solution is a heaped tablespoon full of Epsom Salts in a standard watering can of water. Water the leaves as well as the root zone.
• If you do not have a Daphne plant now is the time to buy one as the delicious fragrance of the flowers wafts through the garden and house as cut flowers.
• Water in new Daphne plants with Multicrop “Seaweed Plant Food” to encourage new root growth.