Cold soil, heavy rain, and an eager itch to plant—this is the moment gardeners choose between rushing the season or stacking the odds for a great harvest. We dive into a clear, practical guide to picking potato varieties that fit both your garden and your plate, from fast-maturing salad types to flavour-packed second earlies and reliable main crops for storage. Along the way, we ground every tip in real conditions: soil temperature as your green light, earthing up to beat late frosts, and smart timing to dodge blight season.

We start with confidence builders. Charlotte tops the salad list for clean skins, high yields, and a waxy bite that loves vinaigrettes, while Pink Fir Apple and International Kidney add character if you crave variety. First earlies like Duke of York, Red Duke of York, and Sharpe’s Express earn their space by finishing early, freeing beds for summer crops. Vitabella brings a safety net with extra blight resistance, and Alouette offers rare early flouriness if you manage slugs by earthing up.

If taste is king, we champion British Queens. Get them into warm soil early and they deliver that floury, comforting texture that makes a simple plate sing. For the long game, we compare main crops: Records for a rich, slightly yellow flesh; King Edward and Maris Piper for classic roast quality; Rooster and Kerr’s Pink for trusted staples. If blight has caught you before, Sarpo Mira and Sarpo Axona are your calm in the storm—vigorous growth, clean foliage, and solid harvests that improve with patient maturity.

Threaded through are the small habits that decide big outcomes: planting depth at 10 cm, earthing up in stages, steady moisture during tuber set, and choosing containers when space or soil is against you. We also pause to honour the late Dr Elaine Ingham, whose soil food web work reshaped how many of us see life underfoot. Listen to a great episode of the podcast with Elaine here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/857398/episodes/10640939

We discuss upcoming workshop dates plus a free Grow Your Own Food webinar for those who can’t travel. Sign up to the webinar here

http://subscribepage.io/growyourownfoodwebinar

Ready to pick a winning trio? Try Charlotte for a fast win, British Queens for flavour, and a Sarpo main crop for stress-free storage. If this guide helped, follow, share with a fellow grower, and leave a review to help more gardeners find us.

Support the show

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email: info@mastermygarden.com

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/

Until next week
Happy gardening
John

Peat built our seed-starting habits because it made life easy: even moisture, airy structure, predictable results. But when carbon-rich bogs and vanishing habitats enter the frame, “easy” stops feeling right. We take a clear-eyed look at what peat-free really means for gardeners in Ireland, the UK, and the US—beyond labels, beyond trends—and ask how to balance strong germination with true environmental sense.

We start by mapping the policy shifts and market realities: Ireland still sells mostly peat-based compost; the UK’s retail ban has pushed rapid innovation; the US market offers a mature spread of growing media, from coir and wood fibre to biochar, vermicast, and tailored blends. Then we dig into performance. Peat-free mixes can be excellent but inconsistent, changing with feedstocks and age. Two bags from the same pallet may give different germination and salt levels. We explain why that happens, how peat-free holds water differently, and how to adjust watering and timing to avoid stalled seedlings or damping-off.

From there, we get practical. We’re trialling three seed-starting paths this season: a local vermicast blend opened with perlite and a touch of biochar for moisture balance; a highly regarded coir-forward seed mix known for uniform germination; and a very small reserve of peat-based compost used only for sowing. We also share DIY routes: hot-composting followed by a long cure to stabilise the material, blending with sharp sand or perlite, and using inert media like grit plus vermiculite for germination before an early prick-out into a proven mix. Along the way, we question coir’s “green” halo by tracing its journey across oceans and factories—great performance can still carry a heavy footprint if it travels farther than your holidays.

If you want reliable seedlings without greenwash, this conversation gives you a framework: use imports sparingly where they truly shine, switch to local bulk mixes for planters and potting on, learn the moisture cues of peat-free, and record what works in your climate. We’d love to hear your winning recipes and failures too. Subscribe, share this with a gardening friend, and leave a review with your go-to seed-starting mix so we can test it next.

Join my free Grow Your Own Food Webinar:

http://subscribepage.io/growyourownfoodwebinar

Last Few Places In Feb Workshop:

https://subscribepage.io/growyourownfoodworkshop

Support the show

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email: info@mastermygarden.com

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/

Until next week
Happy gardening
John

What if your garden could slow a storm, clean a river, and lift your mood in one sweep? We dive into the GLDA’s “The Interconnection of All Things,” a bold, practical look at how plants act as living infrastructure—supporting biodiversity, soaking up floodwater, buffering noise, and restoring our connection to place.

We explore how language and myth can sharpen ecological awareness, then shift into concrete strategies designers can use right now. From award‑winning rewilding by Lulu Urquhart and Adam Hunt to Biomatrix Water’s floating gardens that transform hard-edged docks into thriving habitats, the common thread is nature doing the heavy lifting. We unpack urban projects that blend SUDS, habitat corridors, and human access, showing how rain gardens, engineered tree pits, and permeable surfaces turn runoff into a resource. Heritage expert Neil Porteous brings the long view from estates and historic gardens, while the legacy of the late Séamus O’Brien reminds us how deep plant knowledge shapes resilient landscapes. Designer Margie Ruddick connects ecology to culture and community, with case studies from New York to China and Mexico that fuse stormwater design, microclimate, and everyday public life.

Expect clear takeaways for small city plots and large sites alike: mix native and adapted plants for function and beauty, design for water first, collaborate with gardeners for long-term care, and treat every garden as part of a wider network from mountain to sea. If you’ve ever wondered how to move beyond hard landscaping trends toward spaces that actually heal, this conversation delivers inspiration and tools you can apply this season.

You can buy tickets here:

https://glda.ie/

Enjoyed the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a gardener or designer who’s ready to make their patch part of the solution.

Support the show

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email: info@mastermygarden.com

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/

Until next week
Happy gardening
John