Baked, boiled, fried or roasted – potatoes taste great however you cook them! This versatile vegetable is surprisingly easy to grow and spring is the perfect time to plant seed potatoes. Follow our simple guide for great results!
Types of Potato
Potatoes are usually divided into 3 types:
* First early potatoes are planted from mid to late March and harvested in late May to July.
* Second early potatoes are planted from late March to late April and harvested from June to August
* Maincrop potatoes are planted from late March to late April and harvested from late August to October
First and second early potatoes are often smaller than maincrops and are best eaten fresh, as they don’t store well. They’re especially good boiled, although many second earlies also taste great roasted or fried.
Potatoes are usually divided into 3 types:
* First early potatoes are planted from mid to late March and harvested in late May to July.
* Second early potatoes are planted from late March to late April and harvested from June to August
* Maincrop potatoes are planted from late March to late April and harvested from late August to October
First and second early potatoes are often smaller than maincrops and are best eaten fresh, as they don’t store well. They’re especially good boiled, although many second earlies also taste great roasted or fried.
Tips on Growing Potatoes
* Potatoes do best in a fertile, well-drained soil in full sun.
* First and second early potatoes do best if ‘chitted’ before being planted. To ‘chit’ potatoes, leave the seed potatoes somewhere cool and bright indoors so that they can sprout shoots. After 4-6 weeks, once the shoots are around 2.5 cm long, remove all but the two strongest shoots on each potato.
* As potato plants grow, they need to be covered over with soil or compost. This stops light reaching the tubers (potatoes turn green and become toxic when exposed to light) and also encourages the plant to produce more potatoes.
* If you don’t have space to plant potatoes in a bed, first and second early potatoes will also grow well in large containers.
