When And How To Grow Your Potatoes Here In Burgenland.

Of course that is if you want to grow your own potatoes.

Being city-bred, the idea of growing a potato or even anything, had never crossed my mind. Why should it when every corner had a grocery store. Not to mention living on the eight floor.

Moving into the country has many surprises, pleasant ones really, apart from hearing some sort of pitter-patter of 'hopefully ' animal feet in our ceiling. Well now we are living in a house and have loads of garden space.

My in-laws stayed with us this summer. As was rather typical for me, I forgot that I had bought potatoes. A somewhat unpleasant smell accosted my nostrils one day while I was busy in the kitchen. Finding the culprit, not so fresh potatoes, I dispatched Bob to throw them away outside.

Well my eagle eyed father-in-law intercepted him. " What are you doing with those ? "
" Throwing them away, they are off ".
" My boy ( Bob really is 40 ) let me show you what to do." And the rest is history...

Harry, having grown up on a farm, took the potatoes, I think there were about five and started to plant them in our still meager looking vegetable garden. " You just wait and see, in October you'll have plenty of potatoes ". He proceeded to show Bob what we would have to do, to ensure a healthy progress of their life-cycle.

He knew that we both are not so good with the ' green finger ' business. So when he thought another step had to be carried out, he would tell us on Skype. Yesterday, he told Bob that the big day had arrived. We could dig for Potatoes !

Of course we both were sceptical. But Bob took our hoe ( such a groovy word ) and got busy in the vegetable patch. Suddenly he was shouting with excitement.
" Schnell, schnell, come and see. Oh and bring the camera."

Both of us stood there with our jaws hanging open in amazement. The potatoes just kept on appearing when Bob used the hoe. Thankfully Harry had told him to dig deep because we would have thought that the first one was it. Oh, parents are a great thing...

P/S...we have winter time now, so the blog is either an hour early or late, depending where you read it...!

Biggi

The potato and the hoe.

Another potato emerges.

Great bounty...love the leaf among it !