How to grow your own potatoes – your questions answered
Do I need a large garden, veg plot/beds or allotment to grow them?
No, you don’t need a huge garden to try a few potato varieties, just space for a pot or two.
What potato is best for me?
A great way to discover varieties that suit your own particular taste is to try a few different ones in containers. The container method is also a great way to grow potatoes if space is at a premium.
What varieties do you recommend growing in a container?
Try Rocket for a first early, it is really quick to be ready to harvest as the name suggest. Charlotte is a very tasty salad potato or Wilja is a good all-rounder that you can dig early and eat as a new potato or leave it in the ground to bulk up and harvest them later in the summer or early autumn when bigger.
What container should I use?
Any container that won’t let the light in through its sides, and ideally at least 12 inches deep and 12 inches (30cms) diameter will be fine, they can be made of any material. If light gets to your potatoes, they will turn green and are then very poisonous to eat, so NEVER eat green potatoes.
Can I grow potatoes on my patio?
- Yes you can. Growing your own potatoes is fun and you can do it even if you only have a balcony and live deep in the city.
Is growing potatoes hard work? Will I have to do some digging?
Not necessarily. If you have them in a container, once they have grown, you’ll be able to pop your hand into the soil and pull a handful out just when you need them. Fast food! If you grow them in veg beds or on an allotment you don’t have to do more than just prepare the ground and pop them in. You can mould up the earth on the seed potatoes to help produce a greater harvest, but this isn’t essential. The only other secret is to ensure they are kept watered in very dry periods.
What are first earlies?
First earlies potatoes are so named because they crop relatively early – 12 weeks from planting. Don’t expect large crops of massive spuds, but possibly 12 to 18 small fresh and tasty early potatoes. If you are patient give it another couple of weeks before harvesting them. They can be planted straight after Christmas if you have a frost-free greenhouse either in pots or the ground. Otherwise from early March in Cornwall to mid May in Newcastle. Local variations, e.g. around the coast, will also apply. The key is that the new potato shoots cannot resist more than a light frost so be cautious.
What are second earlies and maincrop potatoes?
Second earlies are sown three to four weeks after first earlies and maincrop varieties some six to eight weeks after first earlies. They will crop later in the year – July/mid-August.
What is chitting?
This means allowing the seed potatoes you buy from your nearest GCA garden centre to just shoot so they are ready to plant. Put them in a light, warm spot e.g. on a windowsill. People often put them in open egg boxes, so they don’t roll around. This starts them growing before you plant them so gets the potato off to a good start.
When should I plant them?
This depends on the variety/varieties you have selected and the type of potatoes you’d like to eat such as salad potatoes or jackets.
When will they be ready to eat?
Modern first earlies will be ready to dig up and eat 12 weeks from planting and you will know when they are ready as they will have flowered. If you are patient give it another couple of weeks before lifting.
Second earlies and maincrop varieties will be ready to eat later in the year. Once they have flowered there should be potatoes ready underneath for you to have.
July/mid-August is when you can harvest maincrop potatoes. The foliage will die back and at this point they should be lifted.