Potatoes win second Chelsea Gold - Kitchen Garden Magazine

A Chelsea exhibit without a single decorative bloom has again charmed judges into awarding a Gold Medal.

In 2015 potato aficionados Morrice and Ann Innes took the first-ever Gold Medal for a potato display in the show’s history – and this year they made it two in a row.

Morrice, of Old Town, Aberdeen, claims to have the largest private collection of potato varieties, and the exhibit, sponsored by Thompson & Morgan, showcased over 140 varieties. Many came from Morrice’s collection, including original South American species and European heritage varieties such as ‘Karaparea’, which was taken to New Zealand by James Cook in the 1770s. The exhibit also featured some 50 modern varieties grown from Thompson & Morgan seed potatoes, including blight-resistant maincrop ‘Sarpo Axona’ and high-yielding salad potato ‘Jazzy’, currently the company’s best seller.

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The winning team (left to right): John & Rhona Marshall & Ann & Morrice Innes.

Morrice says, “We’ve tried to tell the tale of the potato by highlighting a vast array of skin colours, shapes and sizes, while suggesting the best uses of each variety and the places where they come from. You won’t find many of the varieties for sale at the supermarket. Hopefully we’ll help inspire more people to grow potatoes and to try some of the more unusual forms while they are at it.”

Find out more at http://blog.thompson-morgan.com/golden-wonder/

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Steve Ott

Steve Ott is editor of Kitchen Garden magazine and started his career as a professional grower, producing everything from cut flowers to vegetables. He has been growing fruit and veg all his life and spends most of his spare time in his garden in the East Midlands. He loves to experiment with crops and varieties he has never grown before and when he isn’t gardening is to be found out in the countryside bird watching and walking his dog Ted.