Maris Bard

potato sketches

My right thumb is doing well – I’d sprained it with a marathon session of snipping back the ivy and hawthorn – but I’m still keen to practice drawing with my non-dominant left hand. These chitted Maris Bard first early seed potatoes are ideal subjects for my wobbly pen.

drawing a potato

Maris Bard

Maris Peer potatoes

Maris Bard are first earlies, so in six weeks time, by the beginning of June, we should have a crop ready to use.

Maris Bard potatoes
Maris Peer second earlies ready to plant

We bought the potatoes back in January or February but we’ve been waiting until now, when there’s less risk of a heavy frost.

Potato Heads

potato heads

We’ve been chitting our Maris Peer second earlies on the back bedroom windowsill but we took the plunge yesterday and planted them at about a spade’s depth but as an extra precaution earthed the rows up, so that by the time the first sprouts show above ground, there’s a good chance that we’ll have had the last of the frost.

Maris Bard

maris bard

These wrinkled Bards with their spiky topknots remind me of a line from a Simon & Garfunkel song:

“Talking to a raisin that occasionally plays L.A.,
Casually glancing at his toupee.”

I’ve just finished reading Walt Stanchfield’s Drawn to Life, so I was thinking of his advice, when drawing figures to draw gestures rather than anatomy, so in this case I went for the laid-back poses of this little group, rather than the botanical detail.

Last year we nearly forgot what kind of potato we’d planted, so for the two varieties that we’ve gone for this year, I’ve cut labels from margarine cartons and written the nameS with a Sharpie. That should last for the two or three months until the potatoes are ready for harvest.