Favourite potatoes - Swift
This is a Jack Dunnett variety, brought out in 1994. It's well-named;
- one of the fastest earlies I've come across. Blight resistance about
3, but it's usually out of the ground by the time blight comes.
The foliage is very short and deliacte in appearance; I grow it in pots every
year and it's ready by about June 1st against a south facing wall
(early for Leicestershire). It seems to attract slugs, but I guess you can't
have everything. Flavour is good; the tubers are small and unblemished.
There are no flowers; they drop off at an early stage.
J.D. remarks in his book that this is a very narrow niche
market. If you're a commercial grower, you have just over a week
to sell Swift before Rocket, Minerva and other varieties arrive.
Some
seed is sold to Sweden, and Swift is gaining ground in New Zealand,
because it looks rather like Nadine but is ready several weeks
earlier.
