Now’s the Time to Grow Your Own Potatoes

Posted:13 April 2014

Plant a few potatoes now and it wont be long before youll be enjoying your own crop of new potatoes and of course it’s no surprise that, like tomatoes, those grown in your garden are much more flavoursome than most supermarket spuds!

There are dozens of different potato varieties usually described as early, second early and maincrop potatoes – and each has different qualities. Some are great for baking, other for salads, some are floury, others are waxy – by trying a few varieties, perhaps in containers, you will soon work out which types suit your culinary preferences best. By growing your own potatoes, you also have the opportunity to plant unusual varieties that are hard to find.

• Buy ‘seed’ potatoes and ‘chit’ these by arranging them, with sprouting ‘eyes’ uppermost, in egg boxes or seed trays in light in a cool but frost-free room don’t forget to label each variety!
• They are ready for planting when the sprouts have reached 2cm in length, which will take approximately 4-6 weeks
• If you’re short on space it’s a great idea to grow your potatoes organically in bags or large pots with plenty of drainage (aim for at least 30cm (1ft) deep and wide). It’s also worth noting that potatoes grown in containers are also at much less risk of pests and diseases
• Fill one-third of the pot with multi-purpose compost or good quality, fertile garden soil, nestle two seed potatoes into the top of the compost and then cover with more compost or soil.  As the green plant develops, continue to add soil and cover until within 2.5cm (1in) of the rim of the container
• Potatoes like plenty of sun, so avoid planting them in frost-prone sites, as these conditions can damage the developing foliage
• If you are planting in vegetable beds or open ground, potatoes need a well-dug soil with plenty of organic matter to will improve yields
• For the best crops, water frequently particularly in hot dry spells

The names early, second early and maincrop, indicate when the potatoes will crop and also give you an idea of the space youll need, how closely and when they can be planted.

• Earlies, the very first potatoes of the year, can mature in as little as 7 weeks.  Plant out from late February, protect with fleece and keep well watered. For greenhouse forcing plant chitted tubers in 12in pots from late January
• Concentrate on the earlier types if youre short of space, and its also worth remembering that earlies are less likely to encounter pest problems as theyre lifted so much earlier in the year
• Second earlies take 16 to 17 weeks to mature after planting, so you should be able to harvest them from very late June through to the start of August.  If left in the ground a bit longer most are equally successful for storage and use as a maincrop
• Maincrops are ready 18 to 20 weeks after planting, so they can be lifted usually from July through to October. Maincrops take up the most space in the garden, but they tend to be the best varieties to grow if you want some for storage. Maincrop varieties should be planted in early April again after sprouting indoors

Early varieties:

• International Kidney good for forcing early in bags, with good flavour and dense, waxy texture
• Belle De Fontenay classic, French salad potato, with smooth, firm, waxy, yellow flesh and excellent taste, ideal for salad and boiling
• Winston the earliest large potato with a good flavour and crumbly, floury texture, excellent for baking, chips or mash. A quick and early cropper
• Red Duke of York first early (or, left longer in the ground can be maincrop)
. Plant successionally from mid-March to mid-May, to harvest as a delicious pale-yellow fleshed first early boiler, a second early summer baker, or a multipurpose early maincrop. A lovely taste at whatever size and maturity

Second early & Maincrop varieties:

• Anya (second early)
 a Pink Fir Apple and Desiree cross. This is a salad variety with a nutty taste, delicious hot or cold, and ideal for container growing as produces lots of small tubers
• Cara 
- a quick to produce, large, fat potato, with a soft, moist, waxy texture and excellent for baked potatoes. High yielding and reliable
• Golden Wonder one of the flouriest potatoes there is, with fantastic flavour. It makes wonderful roast potatoes, chips and mash
• Maris Piper good flavour, and if harvested very small can be used as a boiling and salad potato
• Pink Fir Apple (maincrop) about the latest maturing salad variety, taking 22 weeks for perfection, but well worth the wait. Very knobbly tubers, just wash and cook whole. Superb either hot or cold
• Nicola relatively new variety of potato, with medium-sized oval tubers which yellowish, delicious waxy flesh. High yielding and healthy and a stores well

 For great advice on how to grow potatoes, visit www.rhs.org.uk

Main photo, courtesy of: www.secret-garden-club.blogspot.com