Don’t leave it too late to plant Christmas spuds

I hate to mention it but on the first day of this month there are only 116 growing days left before Christmas, so if you want new potatoes for the festive table, stick to fast-growing early potato varieties such as ‘Rocket’, ‘Cliff’s Kidney’, ‘Jersey Benne’ or the well-named ‘Swift’ which are ready to dig up in as little as 70-100 days after planting. Some main crop varieties take four months or so to mature; you can still plant them now but you might only have tiddly tubers if you plan to harvest in December! For the last couple of years I have made a very easy no-dig potato bed by leaving a straw bale out in the weather for a few weeks so it started to break down, then pushing potatoes into the sides (you can also lay the potatoes on a clear patch of earth, mulch with about 15cm of straw, throw some grass clippings on top to stop the straw from blowing away and water well). I think you get a considerably higher yield planting in the soil, but planting in straw makes for super easy harvesting of perfectly clean spuds!