Spuds

Out thriving 'Kennebec' potato plants

Potato Salad - I love it! We collected and boiled some of the season's new potatoes, to which I added chives, parsley, onions, some homemade mayonnaise (which included some left-over seeded mustard I found in the fridge), and fried bacon. It was delicious, and disappeared too quickly!

I'm looking forward to a summer of yummy potato-ey delights as we've three different culitvars planted - pink eyes, dutch creams and kennebecs. We suffered some mild frost damage, and it appears some of the leaves are being eaten by unknown critters, but I'm optimistic that we'll get a decent crop.

Here's some history of the spud in Tasmania - apparently Lieutenant Bowen first planted them in 1803 when he created the settlement at Risdon Cove, and from the mid-1820's they've been grown as a commercial crop. The Department of Primary Industries and Water have a certified seed program which includes 26 cultivars, of which I only recognise about 1/2 dozen types. Some I'd like to try - just because their names sound cool - are nooksack, granola (sounds like muesli to me...), nadine and nicola (did romantic farmers name their spuds after their wives?).