Choosing, chitting, planting & harvesting potatoes
For the earliest crop of potatoes in early summer you need to choose a variety that matures early. These are called First Earlies. Look out for the grass-green coded packs of seed potatoes from Unwins at your local garden centre. They are colour coded to help you choose potatoes that mature at the right time. If you are new to growing potatoes these are the most rewarding ones to grow as they will be ready when new potatoes are expensive in the shops and mature before many potential potato pest and disease problems, such as Potato Blight that can be troublesome in wet summers and in certain areas. Look out for First Early varieties such Rocket, Arran Pilot and Foremost. First Earlies also tend to make smaller plants and so take up less space in the garden, an important consideration if growing space is limited.
Later maturing potatoes, called Second Earlies, Maincrop Potatoes and Salad Potatoes are also available. These will product a crop that matures later than the First Earlies. Salad potatoes are a great choice if you are short on space, or why not try growing just a few potatoes of three of four varieties that mature in consecutive months. This extends the cropping season and provides fresh potatoes throughout the growing season. Unwins makes it easy for gardeners with smaller plots by offering a wider choice of varieties in different sized packs. Look out for the NEW ‘Try These for £1.99’ packs (1kg) of seed potatoes. Just one pack will give you a handsome crop and allow you to try growing spuds for the first time. It also enables you to choose a number of different potato varieties to mature at different times.
Best Potatoes
For great results choose Arran Pilot. It’s a great choice for the first new potatoes of the year. It’s quick to crop and is ideal to grow in large pots and containers or where space is limited. What’s more it’s resistant to common potato problems. It’s also easy to prepare for cooking and makes a lovely salad potato. Arran Pilot has a delicious sweet, new potato flavour and firm white flesh. Plus, it’s the nation’s favourite garden variety.
What are Seed Potatoes?
There are lots of confusing terms in gardening and the expression ‘Seed Potatoes’ is no exception. Seed Potatoes are potatoes but they are not strictly seeds. They are what you need to plant to produce a healthy crop of potatoes. They are specially grown potato tubers, usually grown in areas that are not affected by garden pests. This reduces and almost eliminates the possibility that these tubers can become infected with viruses. It is essential that you choose to grow certified, disease free potatoes to minimise the spread of potato problems. Simply look out for the labelled packs at your local garden centre, or if in difficulty contact Unwins for more advice. Seed potatoes are carefully grown strains that are disease free and healthy, to provide the gardener (or farmer) with a healthy crop of potatoes later in the season.
Buying Seed Potatoes
Start looking in the garden centre from January and buy them as soon as you can. If you have a small garden or are trying them for the first time, don’t be too adventurous; just buy one or two packs to start off with. Choose quick cropping varieties such as First or Second Earlies that will produce lovely new potatoes when they are expensive to buy in the shops. If you are more experienced or have a larger garden them consider buying several varieties that mature in different months to prolong the harvest and provide fresh potatoes throughout the season.
Preparing to grow your potatoes
Unpack your seed potatoes as soon as you get them home. Lay them out in a single layer in wooden trays lined with thick newspaper. If you have bought them very early you need to keep the seed potatoes in a dark, cool, but frost-free place until February when you can allow them to sprout, (chit). Otherwise start them chitting as soon as you have bought them. It simply gives them a head start and encourages your seed potatoes into growth before they are planted. Chitting allows them to form good, strong and sturdy shoots that will grow away much faster than unchitted potatoes after planting. If you are buying seed potatoes later in April or May it is not necessary to chit them, they can be planted straight away if the weather conditions allow.
Chitting
Sort through the seed potatoes and identify the end that has lots of sprouts forming, this is sometimes called the rose end. This needs to be exposed to the light to promote the growth of the shoots. The best way to do this is to place each seed potato into an empty egg box or egg tray with the rose end uppermost. This will allow these shoots to develop. Keep them in a light frost-free place for the shoots to develop. This will take up to six weeks. If the shoots are small and green then the tubers may be too cold, if they become thin and yellow then the temperature could be too warm or they may not be getting enough light. They should be about 5cm (2in) long and dark green in colour, they are then ready to plant out.
Planting
The spring weather can be very unpredictable and in northern UK areas it may be too cold to plant the potatoes even in April. They must be protected from frost, so if the ground in frozen it’s better to keep them frost protected in their chitting trays than to risk planting them out. However, the sooner you get your First Earlies planted the quicker they will spring into growth. Ideally they should be planted during March or April if the conditions are right. Second Earlies and Main Crop potatoes can be planted from April onwards.
Potatoes need plenty of room above and below to develop. It’s a good idea to spread them out when planting with at least 30-45cm (12-18in) between tubers and the same between rows. Plant them 6-8 inches deep for the best results and cover them over with crumbly soil.
After Planting
The biggest threat to your potatoes in the early stages is frost so keep an eye on them. You can cover over the whole potato patch with horticultural fleece. This will protect them from a degree or two of frost. When the leaves and shoots start to appear then cover them over with soil, gently burying them again for protection. Continue to do this whenever frost threatens. When the plants have reached 20-30cm (8-12inches) tall then you need to draw the soil up and around them by scooping it out between the rows and using this soil to almost cover them over. Leave a few centimetres of leaves and shoots poking through the top. This encourages potatoes to form higher up and ensures that light does not reach the developing tubers and turn them green. Ideally they should be ‘earthed up’ again in about 3 weeks. Keep the potato patch weeded. Weeds will compete with the potatoes for water, light and nutrients. Feed your plants with a good, well-balanced fertiliser during May when they will be growing vigorously. Choose Feed-all Slow Release Plant Food, Growmore Plant Food or organic Chicken Manure Pellets depending on your preference.
Harvesting
It’s always tempting to have a root around the base of the potato plants to see what’s happening. Try not to do this too often. A fairly reliable sign that your potatoes can be harvested is when the plants start to flower in earnest. As these plants are the first to crop you can harvest them as you need them, this allows any plants still in the ground to continue growing. It’s a good idea to cut off the flowers so that the plants don’t put all their energy into making seed. The seeds are also very poisonous and should be removed if you have children and pets in your garden. When you think your plants are ready to harvest dig one up to see. Don’t push your fork in close to the plant or you will spear the potatoes beneath the soil, instead move away from the plant by about 30cm (12inches) and dig all around the plant lifting the main stem up by hand. Dig over the area carefully removing every single tuber and then fill the hole back in with the soil you have dug out. Repeat for each plant as necessary.
For further information on growing potatoes check out these links;
