Harvesting early potatoes in Zuid-Beijerland

In between the showers we have been harvesting early potatoes during the last few weeks. These went straight onto the lorry because the skin was not fully set. We are harvesting on request so we can work with as little stock as possible. These potatoes are currently lying in the Albert Heijn supermarket.

The HLS strips are looking good. The flower picture was taken at the Kostverlorendijk in Piershil. In the background you can see the red clover with patches of a fierce weed: milky thistles.

This weed is the most problematic we are facing. In good Hoeksche Waards dialect these are named 'snotters'. On the second picture you can see a field of potatoes where this weed has taken over control of the field. The only remedy to this weed is to exhaust it by cutting it down many times. This is done both mechanical and by hand. We also mow them off in crops of lucerne and clover. We have recently changed our cropping plan, and added an extra year to grow more green manure for mowing.

At the following pictures you can see one of our problematic fields, where a lot of people have been wondering what we have been doing. This is a field of carrots where we have used a cultivator to take out spots of milky thistles. This makes the field look like a chess board!