You've just missed the 14th Hampshire Potato Day - there's lots of pictures here

The 15th Hampshire Potato Days will be held on

Sat 26 & Sun 27 January 2013

10am - 3pm

Testbourne Community Centre, Micheldever Road, Whitchurch RG28 7JF

Entry adults £2, accompanied children free

As seen on BBC TV's Inside Out

Reports and pictures of the 2012 event are here with a BBC Local radio report on the 2009 day here

Details of the UK's other 2011 Potato Days are here

There'll be a free and exclusive coloured potato (see picture here) for each child bringing his/her parents along and the children will get in free

Get advice from an RHS Gold Medal winning grower of over 380 varieties and we hope, in addition to potato seed sales we will hope to have, yet again, the following attended in 2012 and promised tpo return in 2013:

Talks - Chris Bird from Sparsholt College  , history, modern methods, varieties to choose and as many questions as you care to ask! Children's activities Refreshments Runner, Broad and French Beans and Pea seeds and Onion and Shallot sets at very competitive prices - Charlton Park Garden Centre Heritage seed sales - Thomas Ety Esq Organic vegetables - Harroway Organic Gardens Herbaceous plants - Tufton Plants Unusual edible plants - Edulis Home made jam and preserves - Tufton Plants Organic Vegetable and Herb Seeds - Beans and Herbs Hampshire Branch of the National Vegetable Society Hand made chilli products (handmade soups and a Tartiflette available to visitors) - Facing Heaven Chilli Company Greetings cards with seeds - Grow your own cards A seed swap, bring your seeds to swap for something different Plus the chance to share your experiences with other growers (~2,000 attended)

The location is Testbourne Centre, Micheldever Road, Whitchurch which is just off the A34, 4 miles north of its junction with the A303. There'll be signs from the A34. (see the map).

When you've visited the Day, why not try out some of Whitchurch's eating places or the Silk Mill - there's a special 2 for the price of one entry tickets for those visiting the Hampshire Potato Day

To advertise the event, there are the 2011 A4 poster here and an A5 poster here (2 on one A4 page) they are Adobe Acrobat files

Don't rush to get your favourite variety - there will be fresh stock of all varieties each day.

If Whitchurch Hampshire is not close enough there are other Potato Days at Ryton (Nr Coventry), and throughout the country, press here for brief details

Seed Swap

Seed Swaps are becoming popular at various venues up and down the country with Brighton’s Seedy Sunday being the largest. We will have a selection of seeds available for visitors to swap for those they have brought along, if anyone would like to take more than they bring, a small contribution will cover the “transaction”. All seeds (provided they are viable) are welcome, flowers, vegetables, wild flowers, trees and shrubs, be they home collected or those surplus to requirements from packets overfilled by seed companies. For home collected seed all we ask is that it is labelled with the name of the species, variety and the year it was collected, if it’s unusual some details would be helpful. Pay envelopes (about 3½” x 4½”) are perfect containers but any small envelope will do, provided they are well sealed to stop the seeds leaking out.

Green Manure

Green manures are a very useful way to build up the fertility in the soil, without have to make and transport compost/manure. Over winter they also dramatically reduce the leaching of nutrients. One problem is that (like lots of potato varieties they are not easily available. We intend to have a small number of the 10 or so main green manures available at over ⅓ off retail prices – there will be a relatively small quantity this year to see how stock goes. We expect to have seed of the following at ~ 65p per packet:

Organic Fertilisers