"We began to 'firkle' about three weeks ago, starting with our first earlies, and had no success until about 10 days ago when, lo and behold, we were rewarded with a bucketful of lovely spuds about the size of hens eggs.

So perhaps you would consider going afirkling in future, like us."

And Stephen Pickup adds, “Are you having trouble with your 'pretties'? It's quite simple really. I usually plant my lates early and my earlies late and then, when the foliage of my earlies is dying away, I pick them. They make great chats. When the earlies are finished, the foliage of the lates should have died away. I then pick them and store them for the winter which gives you plenty of Murphy's to fall back on."

So I'm glad that's cleared up.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off for a firkle.