The Great British Spud Off 2014 featured a change of rules from 2013s running – contestants could choose any variety of potato and a growing container of their choice… but they were only allowed to plant one spud. The winner would be the grower with the heftiest harvest.
And with autumn well underway the results are filtering in. Who will be the year’s champion spud grower? Which variety will prove to be the most successful? With results published in order of declaration, it’s time to find out…
Thirsty Rich
After last year’s poor showing, Rich hoped for better with the shortest growing time of all our contestants – he was the last to plant and the first to dig. But somehow his solitary spud yielded a whopping 810g harvest. Are we sure he followed the rules?
Container: Rubbish bin
Potato variety: Majestic
Harvest weight: 810g
Rich Clarke #1
Rich is the proud owner of two potato bags. So to further the cause of spud research (and to double his chances of winning) he made two entries with different varieties. Sadly, his first potato – Nicola – coughed up a mere 366g of potatoey goodness.
Container: Potato bag
Potato variety: Nicola
Harvest weight: 366g
Rich Clarke #2
Sticking with the theme of potatoes with girls names, Rich’s second entry was the variety Anya. But alas, the poor girl gave birth to an even more pitiful haul than her neighbour
Container: Potato bag
Potato variety: Anya
Harvest weight: 212g
Julieanne Porter #1
Another duel entrant, Julieanne started out with last year’s champion tatty the Pink Fir Apple which produced a decent return from a single spud.
Container: Rubbish bin
Potato variety: Pink Fir Apple
Harvest weight: 497g
Thirsty Nick
Cruelly confined to a plant pot, Nick didn’t have high hopes for his spud. And were it not for the few resulting large potatoes’ curious sprouting of even newer, but tiny, potatoes, his mediocre harvest would’ve been feeble.
Container: Plant pot
Potatoe variety: Kerr’s Pink
Harvest weight: 437g
Gordon Stewardson
The reigning champ left it late to declare his harvest. Would his blight resistant Sárpo Mira make it two wins out of two? A whopping 4.5kg looks unbeatable to us.
Container: Rubbish bin
Potato variety: Sárpo Mira
Harvest weight: 4.5kg
Katie T
Spud fan Katie boasted of a “secret tip” to achieve potato perfection. To prove it worked she planted two identical spuds with and without her special ingredient and, sure enough, it worked – yielding an extra 50% more spuds tipping the scales at just over 900g. Ad now the secret is revealed: “Layers of green Alexander”
Container: Compost bag
Potato variety: Arran Pilot
Harvest weight: 900g
If you’ve taken part in this year’s spud off then send your results through when you harvest them. And don’t forget to weigh them!
