Growing potatoes is easy, and there’s nothing like eating new potatoes fresh from your garden. All you need is a small potato patch, or even just a pot.
Potatoes are the perfect crop for novice gardeners and children too, and they’ll thrive in almost every type of soil. Choose a sunny spot if possible, and dig the soil the autumn before, adding peat or compost if the soil wasn’t manured for the previous crop.
Planting
As soon as you can get your seed potatoes, set them out, shoots uppermost, in trays containing a layer of 1″ of dry peat. Keep them in a light frost-free room aiming for sturdy 1/2″ to 1″ shoots at planting time. Chitting is useful for potatoes but is not essential. Water them liberally in dry weather (this is important once the tubers have started to form). Plant the potatoes 5” deep 12 – 15” apart depending on whether you’re growing first earlies or maincrop. Add soil as the shoots appear at the top. “Earthing up” by adding soil around the stems of the plants will provide you with a larger crop of potatoes.
Planting times
First earlies: February, March
Second earlies: March, April
Maincrops: April
If the weather is too wet or cold, you can plant all varieties of potatoes until the end of April.
Crop care
If there is still a danger of frost when the shoots have emerged, draw a little soil over them for protection. When the haulm or stem is about 9″ high, it’s time for earthing up. Use a draw hoe to pile loose soil around the stems to make a ridge 6″ high. If the weather is dry, flood the trenches between the ridges.
Containers
Most potatoes can be grown in bags or containers, and there’s lots of choice of suitable varieties, depending on when you’d like to harvest them. First or second earlies are ideal – maincrop can also be grown in containers, but will need ample room to grow. Mound up by adding extra soil as the tips start to show.
Harvesting
With earlies, wait until the flowers or buds wither, then carefully remove soil from a small part of the ridge and examine the tubers. They are ready for harvesting when they are the size of a hen’s egg. Insert your fork into the ridge well away from the haulm. Lift the roots forward into the trench. With maincrops for storage, cut off the withered stems, remove them and wait 10 days, then lift the roots and let the tubers dry for several hours. Place your potatoes in a suitable container and store them in the dark inside a frost-free room or shed.
Scotsdales star tip
Handle your seed potatoes with great care, and try not to drop bags onto hard surfaces, which can cause bruising and crushing. Protect them from frost and draughts too.
