No longer green but brown, the potatoes have been shorn of their shaws. I do this as soon as the first sight of blight arises. At an allotment site you will never be able to avoid blight being blown across from other plots, but cutting off the haulms ensures that the leaf blight doesn't descend to the tubers. Commercial growers only harvest three weeks after they have cut off the tops as they say it toughens the skin. So not a pretty sight but the crop has been secured. (Slug damage will be the next worry if the weather turns wet before they are all lifted)
