New Potatoes

Yesterday I prepared some beds for planting my new potatoes. The picture above is a French variety 'Vitelotte' also known as Black Truffle. It is a French variety and has a fantastic dark purple colour which stays when cooked. Although it is traditional to plant potatoes on Good Friday (ancient garden lore) I nipped ahead and put in a row of Red Duke of York. Next Friday I will plant my International Kidney (aka Jersey Royal).

I managed to get out yesterday in some bright sunshine and get lots of stuff done! I scattered some nasturtium seeds round the area where I have planted my broad beans. My thinking is that nasturtium act as a 'sacrifice plant' - that means that the blackfly love nasturtium leaves just as much as they like sitting on my broad beans. When the nasturtium leaves are covered in blackfly, then pick them and throw them away! I also scattered areas with the special seed mix for dogs (see previous post). Hopefully Buddy will enjoy nibbling on them from time to time and will get some essential vitamins and minerals. I also planted a thin row of chives in between the rows of carrots. This will help deter pests, in particular the carrot root fly. Fingers crossed.