Sixteen weeks after planting their seed potatoes, the Junior school Gardenig Club have harvested a bumper crop of potatoes as part of ‘Grow Your Own Potatoes’, a major nationwide competition organised by the Potato Council.

They produced a magnificent crop of potatoes weighing 8kg (764g), from three varieties of seed potatoes.

The girls have been looking after their potato plants since March and greatly enjoyed their ‘harvest’ day.

“The children felt as if they had unearthed treasure as they dug up their potatoes. It has really helped them to understand how things grow and develop an interest in gardening.” said Mrs Coupe, head of the schools gardening club.

The  'Grow Your Own Potatoes' project is the biggest to date with approx.300,000 children taking part in schools all over the country, all of whom have had direct involvement in planting, caring for and harvesting their own potato plants. It is of particular interest this year because the United Nations has designated 2008 as the International Year of the Potato.

 “We’ve had great fun during this project and look forward to finding out if our crop has won anything in the national competition, but whatever the outcome, we’ve learned so very much and are looking forward to cooking our potatoes, using recipes from our Junior School Cookbook, , I am sure they will be delicious!” said Mrs Coupe.