You've just missed the 12th Hampshire Potato Day
The 13th Hampshire Potato Days will be on Sat 29 & Sun 30 January 2011
10am - 3pm
Testbourne Community Centre, Micheldever Road, Whitchurch
Entry adults £2, accompanied children free
As seen on BBC TV's Inside Out
Reports and pictures of the 2010 event are here with a BBC Local radio report on the 2009 day here
Details of the UK's other 2010 Potato Days are here
| Pictures of earlier events are here
The 12th Potato Day was open for 2 days we had 132 varieties available as indivisual tubers, 20 of which were also available as organically grown seed. In addition there were 17 heritage varieties from JBA available in packs. All were priced at 17p per tuber (£1.50 for 10) or in competitively priced 2.5kg nets |
What you could grow after a visit to Potato Day! |
| Thompson & Morgan supplied Sarpo Mira and Sarpo Axona, the new, blight-resistant varieties |
There'll be a free and exclusive coloured potato (see picture here) for each child bringing his/her parents along and the children will get in free
Get advice from an RHS Gold Medal winning grower of over 380 varieties and we hope, in addition to potato seed sales we will hope to have, yet again, the following:
Talks - Chris Bird from Sparsholt
College , history, modern methods, varieties
to choose and as many questions as you care to ask! Plus the chance to share your experiences with other growers (~2,000 attended in 2009) |
The location is Testbourne Centre, Micheldever Road, Whitchurch which is just off the A34, 4 miles north of its junction with the A303. There'll be signs from the A34. (see the map).
When you've visited the Day, why not try out some of Whitchurch's eating places or the Silk Mill - there's a special 2 for the price of one entry tickets for those visiting the Hampshire Potato Day
To advertise the event, there is the 2010 A4 poster here
and an A5 poster here (2 on one A4 page) they
are Microsoft Word documents
Don't rush to get your favourite variety - there will be fresh stock of all varieties each day.
If Whitchurch Hampshire is not close enough there are other Potato Days at Ryton (Nr Coventry), and throughout the country, press here for brief details
Seed Swaps are becoming popular at various venues up and down the country with Brighton’s Seedy Sunday being the largest. We will have a selection of seeds available for visitors to swap for those they have brought along, if anyone would like to take more than they bring, a small contribution will cover the “transaction”. All seeds (provided they are viable) are welcome, flowers, vegetables, wild flowers, trees and shrubs, be they home collected or those surplus to requirements from packets overfilled by seed companies. For home collected seed all we ask is that it is labelled with the name of the species, variety and the year it was collected, if it’s unusual some details would be helpful. Pay envelopes (about 3½” x 4½”) are perfect containers but any small envelope will do, provided they are well sealed to stop the seeds leaking out. Green manures are a very useful way to build up the fertility in the soil, without have to make and transport compost/manure. Over winter they also dramatically reduce the leaching of nutrients. One problem is that (like lots of potato varieties they are not easily available. We intend to have a small number of the 10 or so main green manures available at over ⅓ off retail prices – there will be a relatively small quantity this year to see how stock goes. We expect to have seed of the following at ~ 65p per packet:| Spring/Summer | Late Summer/Overwinter |
| Alfalfa (lucerne) - coverage 40 sq m | |
| Buckwheat - coverage 15 sq m | |
| Crimson Clover - coverage 30 sq m | |
| Fenugreek - coverage 20 sq m | |
| Field Beans - coverage 6 sq m | |
| Lupin, Blue - coverage 20 sq m | |
| Mustard - coverage 25 sq m | |
| Phacelia - coverage 25 sq m | |
| Grazing Rye - coverage 6 sq m | |
| Trefoil - coverage 35 sq m | |
| Tares - coverage 10 sq m | |
| Dried blood - 2kg for ~£3.50 | |
| Fish, blood and bone meal - 3kg for ~£2.50 | |
| Bone meal - 3kg for ~£2.50 | |
| Hoof and horn meal - 2kg for ~£2.50 | |
| Seaweed meal - 2kg for ~£3.50 |
This page was last updated on 3rd February 2010
This event is sponsored by Working4Whitchurch
and supported by Whitchurch Parish Hall Committee
, Hampshire Organic Gardening Group and the Friends of
Whitchurch Primary School
