If you’ve ever wondered how much of a crop you can get by planting just two seed potatoes, there’s your answer.

Rich’s mum is staying this weekend, so I headed out into the garden to dig up some potatoes for tomorrow’s dinner, and the last few weeks of rain have certainly paid a dividend where this particular vegetable is concerned.

The first spuds we gathered a couple of weeks ago were much smaller than these, and we needed two plants-worth just to feed four of us one meal. This half bucket-ful is also the fruit of just two plants (and hence two original seed potatoes) and should feed us all for a week.

This is the first year we’ve planted potatoes in the plot rather than in bags and it’s a bit of an eye opener. The resulting spuds are much better than the ones we’ve had in previous years and what I’ve heard about them being good for breaking up your soil is proving to be true, too.

In the last few years, when we’ve given over most of the plot to carrots, beans, parsnips and broccoli the soil has been compacted and hard to work with. Digging up potatoes, on the other hand, is a dream, and it leaves the soil lovely and fine. It looks like you’ve spent a couple of hours going over it with a rake and hoe.

I’m quite tempted to do the same next year… and the good state of our soil right now has left me itching to start planting some winter crops before it all clumps down again.

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