How to grow your own potatoes

Potatoes are one of the most versatile vegetables, and they are surprisingly easy to grow, even on a small patio or balcony.

There are three main types of seed potato; first earlies, second earlies and main crop. As the name implies, first earlies are the earliest to go in the ground, any time after March, and these will be ready to harvest in May or June. Second earlies go in a month later, and will be ready by July or August. The early potatoes are small and firm with the fresh “new potato” taste and texture.

Main crop potatoes can be planted from mid-April and will be in the ground until late summer or autumn. They are much larger than the early potatoes and if stored well, will keep throughout the winter. Main crop potatoes are perfect for baking, roasting and mashing.

There are so many different varieties of potato it can be difficult to choose, but the descriptions on the packet should help, depending on how you like to serve your potatoes, how long you need them to be stored etc. Swift is the earliest of all potatoes and is perfect for growing in containers, Pentland Javelin has heavy crops and is suitable for all soils, and Charlotte is a very popular salad variety with a hint of chestnut flavour. Amongst the main crop potatoes, Caesar is a high yielding potato with good pest and disease resistance, while Maris Piper is the versatile “chip shop potato” and is great boiled, mashed, roasted or chipped.

To give your potatoes the best chance once they are in the ground, it is recommended to “chit” or sprout your seed potatoes. One of the easiest ways to do this is to arrange them in egg boxes, with any shoots facing upwards, and place them in the sunlight on a warm windowsill for a few weeks. They need plenty of air around them so that they don’t rot, and need to be protected from extremes of heat or cold. If the potato is sprouting in several places at ones, you can even cut it in half to create two sets of sprouts.

You don’t need to have a huge garden or vegetable plot to grow your own potatoes. There is a large range of pots, bags and containers you can buy which can sit on a patio or balcony. If you are planting directly into the ground, choose a sunny spot and break up the soil well. Some people prefer the no-dig method, which involves creating a thick layer of compost on top of your soil, into which you plant your seed potatoes. Either way, your potatoes will appreciate a really good feed of well-rotted manure or compost to give them the nutrients they need

Your packet will tell you how deep the seed potatoes should be planted. Dig a hole in the soil and carefully place the potato with the sprouts pointing upwards. If there are several sprouts going in different directions, remove a few so that you have just the strongest ones left. Cover with soil or compost, being careful not to damage the sprouts.

As shoots appear, cover with a new layer of soil/compost. Once the shoots are 5cm (2”) tall, block out light with more soil and repeat this process of ‘earthing up’ twice. This encourages the plants to grow taller, and ensures that the potatoes growing underneath aren’t exposed to the light. Once foliage has formed, water the soil well and continue to water regularly, especially in warm weather.

First earlies and second earlies are harvested when the plant is still in flower. Carefully reach into the soil and feel around for some potatoes to see if they are large enough for eating. They are sweetest when they are smaller, but you can leave them to grow a bit bigger for a larger crop. The earlies won’t store very well so only dig up as many as you need at a time.

With main crop potatoes, you need to wait until all the flowering has died back and the leaves have started to turn yellow. Again, the longer you leave them in the ground, the larger the potatoes will be! Dig up and leave on the surface of the soil for a few hours to dry before bagging. This will harden the skins and improve storage time.

Growing potatoes is so satisfying because there are so many ways to prepare them. Nothing tastes better than food you have grown yourself, and you can choose whether to bake, sauté, mash, roast or fry the spoils of your labour.