I've got some POTATOES!

[October]

I'm very excited - came back from a few days away and decided to dig up a First Early to see if there were any potatoes yet - and guess what! There were Real Potatoes under there! Bright red ones - some of them a reasonable size even!! I took them home and we ate them for tea. How good is that? I never really thought anything would grow. [Except mare's tails, of course.]

[nick the grief]

Congratulations October, there is nowt to beat the tast of home grown tatties. The best way to eat them is on the plot.

Get a gas stove and a steamer and boil some new tatties and steam some Courgettes, Onion & cabbage & eat with loads of fresh ground black pepper & about 1/2lb of butter - I never said it was healthy just the best

[Alice]

Brilliant October. And off course things will grow. Just try stopping them. Enjoy the rest of your crops.

[dexterdoglancashire]

Well done October! Its a fanastic feeling isn't it, eating your first crop? It just gets better and better! Bernie

[allotment gal]

We had our first batch of 'Charlottes' today, ooh yummy.

[Waffler]

Aw October! You made me smile - in a nice sort of way. You can't beat the feeling can you, and I think there's something extra special about tatties, cos you don't know what you're gonna get til you start having a dig or poke around in there.
Well done you! Here's to many more successes in the garden!

[honestveg]

I had mine yesterday too! Made a potato salad with chopped grilled gammon and spring onions - home grown - there's nothing quite like it....oh yes, and some home grown lettuce and radishes too......yum! yum!

[rustylady]

When did you plant them, October? And are they in open ground or in buckets under cover? Need to know cos I really want to have a look at mine but I'm pretty sure they're not ready yet. Well done though, I hope you enjoyed them.

[October]

Potatoes

Thank you all for sharing my excitement over the potatoes!

Rusty Lady, I put in the red Duke of Yorks on 31st March, in the open ground, so they have had a couple of months. They already had very long shoots on them when I got them though. And there were not that many potatoes on each plant - I just dug up two plants and there were almost enough for hubby and I to have for tea. [Enough if it had been two ladies!] I am going to leave them another week to see if they have more or bigger ones - I'm not sure how many to expect on each plant anyway.

Thanks to Nick and Honestveg for the recipe ideas - sounds great! My daughter, who shares the plot with me, has what looks like a courgette on the plant - about two inches long with what seems to be the start of a flower on the end, so we may get some of those too!

[Flummery]

Oh, you will, you will! In bucket loads! To get a decent boiling off each potato plant you really need to wait 3 full months - and it's surprising what weight they put on in the last month (a bit like pregnancy then!)

[moggssue]

Well done October!! Hope you get lots more potatoes and other crops too!