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 Did you know?...
5+ A Day can be broken down to = 3 servings of vegetables and = 2 servings of fruit per day. |
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 Growing Potatoes
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Growing your own potatoes has never been easier, learn how to grow the most commonly grown vegetable in Britain today. |
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| Did you know..... Potatoes are often referred to as earlies, second earlies or maincrops, depending on when they will be ready to harvest. |
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Step by step guide to growing your own potatoes
Prepare your site
Potatoes prefer to be planted in an open, well drained position, in soil that has been treated with bulky organic material during the previous winter months. |
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When to plant potatoes
Potatoes are rarely grown from seed, and it is standard to buy specially cultivated "seed potatoes", available from any major garden centres. Plant seed potatoes in early spring or mid-spring, when the last chance of a severe frost has passed. Before placing the seed potato into the ground, it is advisable to "chit" your potato, which speeds up the cultivation time. The best way to chit seed potatoes is to place them in a brown paper bag, or an empty cardboard egg carton. Make sure that the end with most "eyes" is pointing upwards and then leave the seed potatoes in a cool, light place for a few weeks. Before planting out, pick off any weak chits, leaving 3 or more stong, dark chits. |
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How to plant potatoes
Dig a shallow trench, about 6 inches deep, the length of your desired row, and place your seed potatoes into it, making sure that the chits are uppermost. Space earlies 12-14 inches apart in rows 18 inches apart, second-earlies and maincrops need a little more space to grow and should be planted 15 inches apart in rows which are 30 inches apart. Fill in the trench and gently cover the seed potatoes with at least 1 inch of soil. |
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Routine care of potatoes
Keep early planted potatoes watered and weed free at all times, and cover them if there is any danger of frost, as this can damage them. Later crops don't tend to need as much watering as earlier crops. When the potato stems have reached to about 9 inches in height, they need "earthing up", this means that we have to manually mound soil up towards the stem, leaving the top 4 inches of stem above the soil. By earthing up, the newly formed potatoes are kept away from direct sunlight, which can make them turn green. Potatoes need to be earthed up approximately three times during the summer growing months. You can apply fertiliser or an organic liquid feed if desired, as this may help to increase your yield. |
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When to harvest potatoes
Earlies should be ready to harvest approximately 100-110 days after planting, second-earlies should be ready in about 120 days and maincrops should be ready approximately 130-140 days after planting. The exact timings all depend on which sort of potato you have grown, the weather, the condition of the soil and when you planted them. As a rule of thumb, potatoes should ready just before they flower, but just to make sure, scrape back some of the earthed up soil to see how the crop has grown. |
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| Maincrop potatoes can be left in the ground for much longer than earlies, but must be lifted before the first frost of winter, as this can damage your crop. By leaving your potato crop in the ground, the potatoes tend to be larger, but at the same time they are more likely to be attacked by slugs and worms. |
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Storing potatoes for later use
If you wish to store your potatoes for later use, lift them when it is not raining, and leave them to dry for a couple of hours on the top of the soil. Use any damaged potatoes immediately, and store intact, undamaged potatoes in brown, double-layered potato bags. Tie the tops of the bags and store in a cool, dry, well ventilated place. Make sure that you cover them up every time you need any, so as to not let any light get to them. |
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Recommended varieties of potatoes
Earlies:
Concorde, Epicure, Red Duke of York and Winston
Second Earlies:
Charlotte, Wilja, Picasso and Estima
Maincrop:
Desiree, King Edward and Nicola
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| Serving suggestion for new potatoes.....Lift a handful of new potatoes from the ground, wash them under the tap and quickly boil or steam. Serve with a generous knob of butter and a sprig of mint.... absolutely delicious! |
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Potato Recipes:
Creamy Mashed Potatoes
Potato and Beetroot Pie
Potato Soup |
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