And over that potato-field, a lazy veil of woven sun...

The most important job of the growing year was tackled yesterday – the planting of the potatoes. This year we are trying a different tactic to try to avoid the poor cropping and heavy eelworm infestation of last year. I am trying a couple of new types and planting only earlies or second earlies to give us a chance of getting them out of the ground before the destructive insects get to them. Yesterday was the turn of Accent, three rows of first earlies, 53 tubers.
It was the perfect day for planting: sunny, warm-ish and bright. The robin was bobbing about in the hedge and a blackbird was singing from a tree. The only downside was the constant noise of a motorbike scrambling somewhere on the other side of the railway. When they stopped it was bliss, just the wind and the birdsong, the scent of woodsmoke and the knowledge that a job has been well done. We’ll see how well the spuds do this year.
From Spraying the potatoes:

He turned my way. 'God further the work'.
He echoed an ancient farming prayer.
I thanked him. He eyed the potato drills.
He said: 'You are bound to have good ones there'.