The Daily Spud

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Category: Garden (Page 3 of 20)

Spud Sunday: Potato Days Are Here Again

Sunday, January 27, 2013 /

I do hate to miss a good party, especially where spuds are involved.

Over the last couple of days, twitter has successfully reminded me of what exactly I’ve been missing by not being in the U.K., where (as the newspaper snippet in the tweet above indicated) they were celebrating National Potato Day. Another tweet on Friday from Kaethe Burt O’Dea – a.k.a. @spudsireland – asked simply “Why aren’t U here?” – here being at the (apparently weekend long) 20th National Potato Day organised by Garden Organic. The charity, who promote organic growing, were the first to start holding potato days in the U.K. back in in 1994, giving growers access to a wider variety of seed tubers and generally promoting and celebrating the diversity of the spud. Similar events are now held in various locations across the U.K. at this time of year, when gardeners’ thoughts turn to the new growing season.

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Spud Sunday: Fight Or Blight

Sunday, November 25, 2012 /
Members of the Maquis in La Tresorerie

Members of the Maquis (French Resistance) in 1944 (image from Wikimedia Commons)

For some reason, I picture David Shaw, the energy behind the Welsh-based Sárvári Trust, in the beret-topped garb of a WW2 resistance fighter. In David’s case, however, the enemy (and one of Goliath proportions at that) is potato blight and his weapons of choice are the Sárpo line of potatoes, bred to have high levels of natural blight resistance.

Needless to remark, David was not actually beret-clad when I met him at last week’s SPUDS.ie Tastefest (though I daresay a beret would have suited him). What he did display, though, was a resistance fighter’s spirit and determination in the face of battle on two fronts, with the ever-adapting scourge of potato blight on the one hand and the struggle to keep the Sárvári Trust funded on the other. He was eager to hear about people’s experiences with Sárpo potatoes and to share his expansive knowledge of potato blight – amassed during some 40 years of study – with all who were willing to listen.

David Shaw at SPUDS.ie Tastefest

David Shaw of the Sárvári Reseach Trust: a bona fide blight resistance fighter

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Spud Sunday: Father’s Spuds

Sunday, June 17, 2012 /

My Da never had much truck with Father’s Day.

And yet I wish, as this year’s Father’s Day rolls around – and as I have wished every day for the past two months – that he were here, even if all he were to do was give out, in his characteristically forthright way, about what is, after all, a makey-uppy date on the Hallmark calendar.

I’ll mark the day by having my first taste of those spuds, planted in the greenhouse by neighbour John’O, and whose progress the Da had keenly followed. They’ll be enjoyed in the best way possible – steamed, served with butter and salt, and eaten with family – which is just how he liked them.

Big John Wires Spuds

A sign helpfully added to the greenhouse by my niece Emma,
alerting all and sundry (including the Da above) to the fact that
these are, in fact, our neighbour's spuds,
he being the affectionately named Big John Wire

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