Lifting potatoes again.

Many thanks to Heather Lane Nurseries for lending us their single-row elevator - just a shame that the day we collected it the deluges began! The recent brief dry spell allowed the land to drain enough to take the elevator up to the Maincrop Field though, so every day since Saturday 8th December we have been up there lifting and picking up spuds.

Nico, Ian, Jim, Janet and Kevin.

Howard helped us lift all the Charlottes last month, and so far over the past few days we've lifted all the Cosmos and are now halfway through the Ambo. Results have been mixed. Some patches of Charlotte were only 10% rejects (mainly due to worm damage, but also rabbits and slugs) while other patches were maybe 60% rejects (lucky pigs!). Cosmos were the worst, maybe 60-70% of the crop rejected. And Ambo are the best, with only about 20% rejected overall. Next year we will be growing Maris Peer, Charlotte, and Ambo.

The single-row elevator in action.

We should now have enough potatoes in storage to see us through to the first new potatoes next May.