Potatoes in the Patch

It's that time of year to start putting spuds in the ground. This morning Max and I dug over some ground and planted some Bismarck potatoes to harvest later in the year. Luckily it was Max and not me who put the fork through the water pipe! Bit chilly today to get in the way of a geyser.   When we get around to digging some more ground over, we plan to put in some Pink Eyes, Dutch Creams and a few Kipfler potatoes as well just to have plenty of variety. I haven't seriously grown potatoes for some years and have just relied on self sown spuds which pop up in the garden to give us some new potatoes in spring. Last year I grew the prized Pink Eyes for the first time and they lasted for a few months after harvest hidden away in the dark. I have had the seed potatoes hardening off suspended in a basket in a shady shed to make sure they are very green and hard. To make the seed potatoes go further, I cut some of the bigger ones into 2 or 3 pieces and dusted the cut surfaces with cement, a trick my late father-in-law used to use. I think the lime in the cement probably sterilises the cut surface and ensures the "seed" doesn't rot before it starts to sprout. Now I can look forward to some lovely new spuds in late spring.