Gardening tips for early February

Horticultural aide memoire

No.4: Choose First Early potatoes

It is enlightening to grow something new in the kitchen garden each year. We all have our favourite First Early potatoes, but there are so many varieties available that it seems a pity not to try out a row of a different one beside the mainstay. Pentland Javelin is a good choice for sandy soils, and Home Guard seems to favour a clay loam.

In a good season, Epicure lives up to its name, generating murmurs of delight over its melting, buttery flesh, and the exhibitor is directed to the even tubers of Rocket, as waxy as you could wish.