Here at Stephanie’s Kitchen Garden this week we will be digging up our ‘Desiree’ potatoes. Last week Jo dug up our other maincrop potatoes which were ‘Cara’. This is very early to be harvesting our spuds and we wouldn’t normally do this until October, however we were unlucky enough to get Blight this year and had to remove the tops of the potato plants a few weeks ago.
Without the foliage, the tubers wouldn’t grow any bigger and leaving them in the ground left them at risk of attack from slugs, so we are harvesting them now. The ‘Cara’ potatoes are perfectly formed, but much smaller than last year. Hopefully the ‘Desiree’ potatoes will have survived intact as well.
Also next week we will be ordering our new strawberry plants. We had a disappointing crop this year, despite good conditions, and our plants are a few years old now so we have decided to replace them with new plants for next year. Browsing through plant catalogues choosing new varieties will be a pleasant afternoon well spent.
This week we will also be harvesting tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, beetroot, celery, runner beans, salad leaves, apples, blackberries, courgettes and broccoli.
