Yes, it's potato time again; over the past week or so I've been lifting the last of the earlies and second earlies to store in the garage at home.
It's all go at the moment, there's so much to do. The recent hot weather has had quite an impact on the plot - plants have doubled in size, flowers are abundant, the onions are trying to bolt and I've got a spring in my step.
When there's so much to do on the plot it's tricky to know where to start. At the moment I've got a bit of a routine: I do a quick whizz round, snapping the flower buds off my onions, harvesting courgettes and checking the brassicas for signs of cabbage white butterfly eggs.
Then I focus my attention on potatoes. Yes, it's potato time again; over the past week or so I've been lifting the last of the earlies and second earlies to store in the garage at home.
The earlies are getting beyond 'new' potato stage - in fact there are some lovely big ones for baking - but the second earlies are just lovely. I've grown my all-time-favourite potato, 'Charlotte' again. I've yet to find another to beat it for quality, appearance, disease resistance and, above all, flavour. I know there are lots more potatoes out there, but Charlotte is just superb.
I haven't started lifting my main crop potatoes yet but I think I may have to soon. Like Pippa, the foliage of my plants has started to show signs of blight. That mottled, spotty, slightly yellowed look on the leaves makes me think "get them out quick!" I acted quickly last year, cutting and disposing of the haulms and digging up the potatoes before the blight spread to them. I saved nearly my entire crop so I don't think I'll hang about this year. In fact, that seems like a good job for this weekend.
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