Inspired by CABAHS

I was very pleased to receive the award for the heaviest potato yield this year at the Autumn Show, but this was only part of my potato story for 2023. We have a small garden and so the space for growing vegetables isn’t great, but I’ve grown potatoes in containers for a number of years. My older grandchild, George, has often been involved and now he and his father grow potatoes in their own garden.

When we went to buy our seed potatoes this year, George quickly filled his bag with the remaining Charlottes that were available so I was left with Casablanca, a variety I’d never heard of before. In fact, I bought more than my garden could accommodate, and it was around this time that CABAHS were distributing the potatoes for the annual competition. This was the inspiration for me to use my extras in a similar way…..

I shared the spares with 11 family members, including the two grandchildren, and gave them pretty much the same information as CABAHS issues. This was met by great enthusiasm all round and with a general competitive buzz and with regular progress reports throughout the year.

Fast forward to July 31, our results day. Instructions were similar to CABAHS except there were three categories – the heaviest total yield, the heaviest single potato, and the total number of potatoes, with junior sections for each.

We managed to get eight of the 11 participants under the same roof with 2 more joining on zoom. I’d also indulged in getting 11 prizes to choose from, with the rule that you could only win one prize regardless of the results. This proved to be fortunate as partner, John, won all 3 categories, with a total yield of 893g, one potato of 112g and 27 potatoes in all. I didn’t do too badly with 766g and we were amused to see that my identical twin sister and I had very similar results in spite of her living in rural Berkshire with different soils, conditions etc.

Prizes were of course all potato related – some relating to growing potatoes again, some peelers and the couch potato section with books/dvd with potatoes in the title but no crisps!

Of the 11 taking part, 6 had never grown potatoes at all and at least 3 had never grown anything, but I think that there’s a strong expectation that we’ll all be growing potatoes again next year.

By the way, I thought that I’d got the short straw when there was only the variety Casablanca left, but it proved to be excellent to grow as well as to cook and eat! So thank you CABAHS for the inspiration – our spin off proved to be very popular and enjoyed by all.

Pat T