I planted potatoes back in August – proper certified seed potatoes, eight varieties. I planted them in potato sacks and religiously followed instructions. It was exciting to see the first green tendrils poke through and I kept topping the bags up with straw as instructed. Up until early November they looked incredibly healthy. Until…

Until the two soul-destroying heavy falls of hail mulched them, followed by those nasty little sucking insects. Anyway, a recovery plan has helped get most of the bags looking reasonable again but they still haven’t flowered. Under instruction and many words of encouragement, I have dug out one of the bags and found 8 small potatoes (250g to be precise). I hope these are more than I originally planted but fear they may be the same ones! Royal Blue.

Needless to say, the potato planting efforts have been a disappointment. I’ve put a lot of care into them for little return. The bags have also not been an outstanding success and look as though they are tearing the first year. This was the sickest looking bag, so I’m hoping for a little more from the others but am not overly optimistic.

On the other hand, some of the veggies are being wonderful. Probably one of the things better than picking, cooking and eating your own veg is being able to give them away. I have a lovely neighbour who has made me feel part of the community from day one and always seems to appreciate some home-grown veg (or she is being extremely diplomatic). A small mixed tray including harlequin carrots, lady finger eggplants, zucchini, cherry toms, onions and capsicum looked cheerful on a hot summer’s day.

I won’t give up on potatoes but will definitely adjust my expectations and approach. Something tells me that the self-sown ones from the compost that have popped up in one of the garden beds may provide better results than all my efforts.