Reducing the food miles

Nothing beats getting up early to dig up food for lunch and dinner.

This is my almost daily chore. Well, I’m hauling the hose up every second day to keep the massive cabbage patch alive. And once I’m done, I love nothing more than having a dig for potatoes in the next row.

It’s marvellous fun. An underground treasure hunt if you will.

And it always looks unpromising. You pull up the dying back potato plant, hoping you snag some large tubers attached. They are invariably titchy.

But dig carefully underneath and that’s where you strike gold. Well, this week I’m striking Charlottes. Good simple salad potatoes.

They boil in no time and taste buttery even when served with just a slick of olive oil and a scatter of mint.

I think I am spending more time nurturing the mint in this heat than the potatoes.

And one nice thing about free draining soil in a heat wave. You don’t have to worry about slugs. And lifting the tubers out of the ground couldn’t be simpler. Just scratch the sandy soil and out they come.