There was a douzy of a frost this morning and for the third morning in a row, no hot water, since our solar hot water system had frozen up again.  The gentleman of the house went off to work smelly and not particularly happy.

Potatoes and chokos getting ready for spring

This is the reason I don’t plant out potatoes early in the year in this place. Further north I could get two crops in by planting in March and September but here, I buy the seed potato when I can get it and leave it in a basket in the shed, along with the sprouting chokos until the frosts are almost gone.

I should be able to plant soon though, as a good layer of hay and soil over the sprouting potatoes will protect them until the frost is gone.

In fact, each year I do have a little crop which sprouts from volunteers left in the ground from the year before so I spend the winter anxiously covering them with mulch every time it looks like the frosty mornings are back but it is worth the effort, as I love those little baby potatoes that you get with your own crop and which are never the same when you buy them.  They are like tasty little soft nuts and are wonderful in a stew or casserole, or served with butter and herbs.