As it happens, Jon, I lifted all my Nicola crop today to make way for my spring cabbage plants which are looking impatient in their little modules. I too cut the tops off, around the end of July, because of blight. The crop from just a few square yards was around 30kg of spuds. Fantastic! I've sorted them this afternoon into three batches: "premier" (big spuds with no blemishes); "chip-sized" (medium size, a touch of trimming of green bits needed on one or two); and "smallish" (best for Mediterranean-style roast potatoes with rosemary and garlic). The premiers are by far the biggest batch, and tomorrow I will put them into a mini-clamp in one corner of a veg bed, with just a touch of organic slug protection. The chip ones and the the smallish will go into a dark cupboard in my utility room, to be used up first.

They are indeed lovely spuds, of a quality you simply can't buy in shops. I grow them strictly organically and we never use them for recipes that need peeled potatoes. That would be a crime! In fact, their one weakness is that they don't make great mashed potatoes, but in a way that isn't a weakness at all. If I want mash, it's off to the shops!