Potato Picking

It was a great day today for digging up some of my Desire late crop potatoes. The storms had passed leaving sunshine and showers to soften the soil making it easy to put the fork in.
I grow Desire every year because they are the only variety that seem to do well in my clay soil. I rotate the crop every three years so as not to infect the soil with blight.
I planted about 3 kilo in the spring and hope to harvest around 4 hundred weight which will last me until next April. I wont be lifting all of them up just now, but will wait for the binds to dry out which will be early September. 
I will then store them in the garage and cover with sacking to give some protection from the frost. Every now and then I'll check the sacks for any disease as one bad potato could infect the whole sack.

Me with muddy boots and hands after digging potato's

My crop of Desire potato's drying off in the sunshine.

Bringing in the harvest

I have always been keen on growing fruit and veg, i suppose i got it from my dad who up until his death at the age of 91 spent many a day cultivating his allotment to supply the family with fresh organic produce. 
The thing i remember most was when mum dished up new early potatoes, carrots, peas and beetroot that dad had painstakingly grown. There is no other taste like it.
Now that mum and dad are no longer here i feel i must carry on where they left off. So with all the skills and knowledge i have learnt from them i am able to supply my family with home grown produce too.
The one thing i am proud of so far in the garden is my sweetcorn, due to the ideal growing conditions this year here in Essex the cobs have filled out well and today i harvested the crop.
I like to pick the corn when it is just ripe as if its too over ripe it tends to loose its sweetness and doesn't keep as well in the freezer, I then blanch them in my Burco boiler for a few minutes,(this is only used for blanching veg) cool it down quickly by putting it in a bowl of cold water, drain it well then bag it up and put freeze straight away. 
If some of the cobs are too long i cut them in half as it makes it easier to put in the freezer bags.