Many cereal farmers in other parts of England have not been unable to get their crop in. Some combine harvesters have broken down under the strain of their wet loads, others have just got stuck in the mud.

It has been said that a year which brings a poor grain harvest will be good for the root crops, and visa versa. So we will have plenty of potatoes for the table. Yippee, they're my favourite. Evidence in my own garden is a good crop of the "Pink Fir Apple" potatoes. They are long, like chunky carrots. Some of them are knobbly, like Jerusalem artichokes.

If you are new to Jerusalem artichoke growing you won't know what I mean because I have noticed recently that they have been improved to be not knobbly, more rounded; much easier for washing and cooking.

Pink Fir Apple Potatoes are a variety originally developed in France. They are as waxy as any potato I have come across, and traditionally boiled and then used in salads. I don't like those potato salads which are just potato glued together mayonnaise and some silly snipped chives.

I like home made ones with warm potatoes, oil and vinegar and lots of green leaves like rocket and young beet, in fact any greens. I like to include a couple of big leaves of welsh onion, chopped up, for a stronger onion flavour than chives, then simply finished off with olives, sunflower seeds, feta cheese, sardines, cooked beans, young radish seed pods, whole grain mustard, pumpkin seeds, and a dip of hot chilli sauce at the side…..

Sorry, that's not simply finished off, but I get carried away thinking about food. I wouldn't normally have cheese and sardines in the same dish, but do I need a salad with some oomph! before I go back to work.

Jerusalem artichokes are closely related to sunflowers, which is obvious by their tall (1.8m - 6ft ) stem, and their leaves, but I've never seen them grow a flower. Instead they spread underground by tubers. These are hardier than potatoes and come up every year, though to get a worthwhile crop it's best to replant tubers well separated in a fresh area, say about 30cm ( 1ft ) apart. It's important to try and get all the tubers out of any spot you've had them, as they can become quite difficult to clear, especially if they get among stones. The plant can be useful as a summer screen, but better have two rows for complete privacy.

I didn't know how to cook them when I first grew some, so deep frying them like chips was the first and obvious choice. They were delicious. Restaurants seem to like them for soup, a method I have never got round to trying.