Woodside Guide to Growing Potatoes

The Woodside Guide to growing Potatoes

Potatoes are easy and rewarding to grow, and best of all you don’t even need a garden to grow them – many grow very happily in large bags or pots on a balcony or patio.

There are three main types of potato to grow, named according to when you plant and harvest them:

First early (new potatoes) are the earliest to crop, in June and July. They don’t store for long so are best eaten fresh.

Second earlies (also called ‘new’ potatoes) take a few more weeks to mature and are harvested in July and August. These also don’t store for long, so are best eaten fresh. Salad potatoes have a firm, waxy texture and many have an intense, nutty flavour.

Maincrop potatoes take the longest to mature and are harvested from August to October. They are suitable for general purpose use, such as baking, roasting and mashing, and can be stored for a few months.

How to grow potatoes at home

Potatoes are easy to grow – one seed potato will produce many potatoes to harvest. Prepare the soil by digging and removing weeds, and then dig straight trenches 12cm deep and 60cm apart. In spring, plant seed potatoes 30cm apart and cover them with soil to fill the trench. When the shoots reach 20cm tall, use a rake, hoe or spade to mound soil up around the bases of the shoots, covering the stems half way. This is called earthing up. You can also grow first early and second early potatoes in a large bag on a patio or balcony, covering them with compost as they grow.

 

When to plant potatoes

First early potatoes can be planted from late-March, depending on the weather, while second earlies should be planted a couple of weeks later. Maincrop potatoes are usually planted in late April/ May and need to stay in the ground longer to produce a good crop.

In warmer regions  or if you have a heated polytunnel, it’s possible to plant a second batch of maincrop potatoes in late summer, which will yield a crop of delicious potatoes for Christmas.

How to chit potatoes

Before planting, you need to ‘chit’ your potatoes. This involves letting the potatoes grow shoots, which will give you a bigger potato crop. Place seed potatoes in trays or egg cartons with the end that has the most eyes uppermost. Stand in a cool, light spot until 1-2cm long shoots have formed. This could take up to six weeks.

How to plant potatoes

You can grow your own potatoes by planting out ‘seed potatoes’, which are small potato tubers rather than actual seeds. You can buy seed potatoes from Woodside in January – April. Don’t be tempted to grow potatoes from old potatoes from the veg rack, as they won’t produce reliable crops.

Home-grown potatoes do well in all types of soil, but the richer the better, so dig in plenty of well-rotted organic matter, such as garden compost. An open, sunny site is best.

While maincrop potatoes grow well in the ground, early or salad potatoes will also do well in large pots and bags.

When growing potatoes in the ground, plant earlies and salad types 12cm deep and 30cm apart, with 60cm between rows. Maincrop potatoes require more space to produce a decent crop. Plant them 12cm deep and 38cm apart, with 75cm between rows. Plant potatoes with the shoots (or ‘eyes’) facing upwards.

Water potatoes regularly, especially during warm, dry spells, and keep the soil weed free. As the potato plants grow, use a spade or hoe to cover the shoots with soil to stop the developing tubers becoming green and inedible. This is called ‘earthing up’. Leave the top few centimetres poking out the top. As plants continue to grow you will need to earth them up again.

 

Trouble Shooting

 

Slugs can be a problem, especially if growing potatoes in plastic bags. Use Slug Gone as an organic deterrent, or Slug Pellets to kill them.

 

Potato Blight is a fungal disease, which turns foliage yellow with dark patches and causes the tubers to rot. Grow a blight-resistant potato variety to avoid the problem. You can also cut the potato plants (shaws) down at the first sign of infection, as the fungus will not have reached the tubers by that stage. Then harvest the tubers as soon as you can.

Never grow potatoes in the same soil year after year as this could lead to a build up of pests and diseases. These include potato eelworm, which causes stunted growth and poor cropping.

 

When to harvest potatoes

 

First early potatoes are harvested in early to mid-summer when the plants are still flowering and the potatoes are about the size of a large hen’s egg (gently rummage around in the soil to check). Cut the potato plants (also known as shaws) to the ground, then gently prise the plants out of the ground with a fork. These potatoes don’t store well, so dig up the potatoes as and when you want to eat them.

Second earlies are harvested in July and August, again when the plants are still flowering. Harvest in the same way as first earlies. These potatoes don’t store well, so dig up them as and when you want to eat them.

Maincrop potatoes are harvested from August to October, when the leaves on the plants have turned yellow and died down. Choose a dry day to dig up your crop so that they store better. Cut the plants to the ground and dig up your potatoes, discarding any that are bruised or have been attacked by pests. Maincrop potatoes store well in a cool frost proof and pest proof shed in paper or hessian sacks

To harvest potatoes grown in pots, simply tip out the contents and enjoy the rich – and easy – pickings.

Our Recommended Potato Varieties

First Early Seed Potatoes:

 

  • Athlete – a salad potato with good blight resistance
  • Caledonian Pearl – a very early variety suitable for boiling and eating hot or cold
  • Duke of York – a very popular dry mealy variety
  • Epicure – the “Ayrshire potato” with good flavour and floury tubers
  • International Kidney – known as the Jersey Royal when grown on Jersey.
  • Maris Bard – a reliable waxy textured all-rounder
  • Pentland Javelin – a Scottish variety with a waxy texture
  • Red Duke of York – a red skinned Heritage variety for general purpose use
  • Rocket – a very early variety with excellent yields
  • Sharpes Express – pale lemon coloured flesh
  • Organic Colleen – medium dry texture, and good disease resistance

 

Second Early Seed Potatoes:

  • Charlotte – our best selling variety, versatile and tasty
  • Estima – firm moist texture and high yields
  • Jazzy – a modern variety producing small firm waxy potatoes
  • Kestrel – Scottish variety with blue eyes for baking, chipping and boiling
  • Maris Peer – creamy white flesh, ideal as a salad potato
  • Nadine – another top seller, a reliable all-rounder
  • Wilja – good tasty all-rounder with medium-dry texture
  • Organic Bambino – waxy variety with good resistance to disease.

 

Main Crop Seed Potatoes:

  • Caledonian Rose – a modern red skinned variety for all round use
  • Cara – the well known baking potato
  • Desireea red skinned variety with yellow flesh and a good flavour
  • Golden Wonder – a late maincrop with a russet skin and dry floury texture
  • King Edward – a firm favourite and a very good variety for roasting potatoes
  • Maris Piper – the most widely grown UK variety with high yields
  • Pentland Dell – large oval potatoes with good slug and disease resistance
  • Pink Fir Apple – a knobbly shape and nutty flavour. A chefs favourite
  • Rooster – a red skinned variety suitable for roasting and chipping