[maddave]

This is my second year as a plot holder and I seem to be having repeat problems with spuds.  They start of great, lots of healthy growth and foliage, but by this time in the year they seem to just die down and fall over.  Everyone else's plants on the site look all neat and healthy. 

Attached is a picture of one of my beds. This problem has affected all three potato beds of different varieties. I've had a dig and there are lots of ice spuds, but dont reckon they will get much bigger with the state of the leaves.  The only thing I can think is that I dont water the plants as much as I do other stuff, so could this be the issue?

[LotuSeed]

It could be due to overwatering. I had a few plants (one in each bed) that started to wilt, but were still green. I dug around and found the seed potato and stems had started to rot. The other plants nearby didn't suffer the same fate, but I eased up on the water considerably, afterwards.

[DD.]

Looks like blackleg.

[pink aubergine]

In bygone days, (say 40 years ago), my granddad dug a big long trench, in which he put newspaper to hold onto the moisture, well rotted manure as well as compost from his heap. He then put in his potatoes, heaped them up regularly and watered regularly .
I think the answer was in the preparation, I start off with the best of intentions, then plonk them in a deep hole, maybe manured, but tend to leave them as they are an easy crop.
It's a difficult time of year esp if it's hot. There's always something that does well, prob the tomatoes as we water them!