My late grandfather always used to plant his potatoes on Good Friday. Why that date? I don't know. Was it superstition. It can't be because of the date for the a date of Easter changes with the cycle of the moon that also affects the date of the Jewish passover. It can't be for the weather because that can vary with the time of the year. But as regular as clockwork he would plant his potatoes on Good Friday and he could grow great crops of potatoes
Organic
Of course he was organic. Not because it was fashionable to do that but because fifty years ago you did not have all the chemical fertilisers and pesticides and fungicides that exist today. It was rotted compost and manure that you got from the local farm or stables.
Disease and pest control
He avoided diseases by rotating the crops. That is he planted the potatoes in a different bit of the land each year. In this way different crops would be grown in the soil each year and any plant specific diseases would not get a chance to get a hold.
Now I am trying to do what my granddad did. I bought my seed potatoes early this year and put them on trays to sprout. This is called chitting so I'm told. The particular variety that I am growing this year is called Charlotte. This is a good salad potato. Not all potatoes are the same - some are floury, some are waxy, some have red skins, some have a strong earthy flavor and some are almost flavor-less. Some are good all rounders and some bake well while others make good fries. Look at a catalogue and work out carefully what sort you like.
My planting
By Easter they all had good shoots on them so on Good Friday I planted them out in rows. The weather has been unseasonably mild this year and it was almost like summer when I put them in the ground. Now I am waiting. The soil had been enriched with some compost made from the green waste from our kitchen.
Waiting for harvest
Potatoes take about 12 weeks from planting until the first ones are ready to harvest. It is not an exact science as the weather plays a part. If you dig them too early they will just be smaller. I love getting small salad potatoes and cooking them with some fresh mint from the garden. I then let them cool down and eat them with some fresh ham and a cold salad. Wonderful - my mouth is watering already but I have a long wait yet.
