Trouble with potatoes

My early potatoes which may or may not be called Javelin (given to me by Kate) have been causing me a bit of bother.

Looking at them the other day, I noticed that the leaves on two of the plants were yellowing and had black spots. I don't think my photo gives a true likeness of it, but the nearest I could come to it in the book was mosaic virus.

There was only one thing to do - dig them up as fast as possible and don't let the debris anywhere near the compost. That deed duly done, I was surprised to find that the two plants wielded nine extremely healthy looking potatoes.

They are in the kitchen, ready to accompany a suitable meal. Result (subject to taste)!

I can see clearly now

The markers Dorothy made me are in place. I can't get things mixed up now. A really useful Father's Day present.

On another note, Kate tells us she's eaten the first of her early potatoes - and jolly nice they were too. She gave me some of the same batch to plant, but I would say mine are nowhere near ready. Maybe another couple of weeks, I would estimate. Must be something to do with living 14 miles to the west of her (I hope).

A brilliant present

Trying to remember which seeds you have put in which tray is a nightmare - that's why they invented marker sticks.

But it's unhelpful when you're scratting around with silly little plastic markers and a blunt pencil, as I have been doing. So I was delighted with the Father's Day gift from my daughter Dorothy - a set of markers she painted herself.

Using some slate pointers and some wooden pointers she bought from Wilkinsons, she painted the names of the produce she thought I was growing. Jolly good guess too, only the sign for peas not useful at the moment.

I shall be out there in a minute with the markers. A very pleasing gift.

Pride and joy

Well, it's looking good so far with a few of the crops.

My two courgette plants standing in pots either side of the front door are thriving, one especially so, and the tomatoes are going on well in their growbags. Might have to think about staking them soon.

It has to be said, though, that the two courgette plants I planted out on the garden veg patch aren't doing so well, despite copious amounts of rain over the last week or so. Perhaps an indication of how duff the soil is. A moment of sadness this morning when I came across a dead frog next to one of them. It certainly wasn't there last night. Wonder what the cause of death was?

Looking good - courgette on the doorstep

Sungold tomatoes on the left, Gardener's Delight on the right

Weather alert

One minute we are talking about a drought and a possible hosepipe ban, the next minute it pours down with rain.

As I write, I am sitting with a pullover on in bitter cold weather, listening to the sound of some quite harsh rain. Not like June is supposed to be, but it means I don't have to do any watering this evening.

But - and there has to be a but - I did a lot of sowing yesterday in the conservatory. Let's hope the cold doesn't have a great impact.

Now then, me old china

A pleasant 90 minutes in the garden and conservatory this morning before it got too hot for me through the glass. I can't take too much heat.

Among the jobs I did was earthing up the potatoes, both earlies and mains, and transplanting a courgette plant from its pot into the garden. Not for the first time, I fell to musing about the sudden appearance of old china in the ground.

It's not as if I was digging deep. It was just there on top. Why? Why?