I had my first ever manicure at the weekend. It hadn't occurred to me, until I came out of the beauty salon with my nails painted a beautiful shade (pixie stix pink) and my hands soft as butter that I had planned to spend the remainder of the afternoon planting potatoes these ones). Beautiful hands aren't compatible with gardening. Despite wearing gloves as often as possible, there are lots of jobs where you just have to get your hands dirty. It did lend a certain glamour to the potato-planting exercise - which was in fact put off until the next day due to a hailstorm.
My method for planting tatties is fairly simple: dig a hole, say, 4in deep, drop in a handful of damp shredded paper, then put the seed potato on top: cover with soil. Within 8-12 weeks I should be enjoying organic potatoes, provided it doesn't rain too much and I remember to earth up the haulms. If the last sentence leaves you lost, let me explain: the haulm is simply the plant's stem: just a pretentious word used by people who want to emphasise that they've been gardening for the last two decades and know a lot more than you (don't get me started on chitting). Earthing up does what it says on the tin - you put extra earth around the stem of the potato plant. You do it for two main reasons: to stop the developing tubers going green, and to protect the plant from frosts, which is particularly important for early potatoes.
Amazingly, after planting a row of potatoes, a row of peas, separating cardoon offshoots (more of which later) and digging up untold weeds around my overwintering onions, the varnish remained relatively intact. My top tip for moisturising hands dessicated by digging is Atrixo: it's not greasy and rubs in easily.
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