Charlotte Potatoes - second earlies

SOW  -March saw these little beauties lounging about the potting shed on their black apple tray like young adolescents on the sofa, doing nothing and waiting to be looked after and cosseted.  Eyes up taking in the cool spring light these couch potatoes were minding their own business but all attention was on them.

Mimi, my mother showed me how to “chit” potatoes which is a process of placing them in a cool, light and airy place to let them sprout. This gives them a head start rather than just planting them straight into the ground. It also gives, I think, the impatient gardener something to do in the spring rather than just looking at the awful English weather. It takes about four weeks to chit a Charlotte so Mimi says, but once the first growths had begun there was no holding me back. Monty Don said it was too early – the soil wasn’t warm enough. Mimi nodded in sage agreement. “The temperature of the soil must be taken like the water of a baby’s bath – with your elbow”.  WHAT ! Not me. It was sunny, the potato bed had been ready for ages , the chitting was done as far as I was concerned so in they went in to much tutting from Mimi.

HARVEST - Monty and Mimi were of course completely right. Nothing happened at all for about 6 weeks. Angst days were spent staring at the bare soil with much misery as thoughts of rotting came to mind until one day…hooray! a small green leaf then wafts of leafy foliage, then they flowered and then bingo fabulous new potatoes falling from the fork. You could chuck a potato on a compost heap and it would probably bear fruit without any mortal intervention at all but I did feel a little smug.

EAT - My husband Laurence is a chef and he gave me various tempting recipes but the best of all is new potatoes boiled with a sprig of garden mint ( I use spearmint because its just outside the kitchen door) and served with real butter and freshly ground sea salt and Jamaican black pepper. These Charlotte potatoes were the best I have ever tasted not because they are waxy, buttery and yellow – they are all these things but because I grew them and worried over them, dug them and cooked them. Delicious !