Become a you tuber
Whether you prefer your spuds roasted, baked, boiled or mashed, you’ll get more satisfaction and a bigger taste by growing your own
Grow tasty potatoes on your plot and this staple crop will make any meal shine. They’re great for beginner gardeners and practised vegetable growers alike, so get some in the ground this year to start enjoying your very own homegrown spuds.
WHERE TO GROW
Potatoes are grown from special seed tubers instead of seeds.
You can buy some from garden centres now – never use potatoes from supermarkets, only use special seed potatoes from your local garden centre.
Seed potatoes have been cleared of disease and bred to produce strong, viable new plants.
Rather than just in the ground, small crops of potatoes can be grown in large, deep containers. This is a clever way of getting an early batch of new potatoes.
But you can grow them almost anywhere – in the ground, in bags, even in a dustbin as a cheap way of getting started.
Spuds love a sunny spot as they are not frost-hardy, so find a place that is aglow in order to grow tasty potatoes like a pro.
WHAT TO PICK
There are three types of potatoes to know about – earlies, second earlies and maincrops. These names refer to the time they are harvested.
Earlies are the easiest to grow and take up the least space. The other two are simple crops and give you loads.
Potato crops need different planting times depending on the exact variety.
Plant earlies in late March to harvest in June, pop second earlies in before mid-april and harvest in July and get maincrop planted mid-to-late April to harvest by October.
Grow your harvest by choosing varieties for your preferred cooking method. As a general rule, early potatoes are good for boiled potatoes. Look to Swift for an early that’s quick to mature and has top-class taste.
My personal favourite is Kestrel, which is a second early that makes marvellous mash, or maincrop King Edward if you are looking to steam.
HOW TO DO IT
You will need to prepare the tubers by chitting them. This means allowing them to start sprouting shoots in a warm environment before planting
out – you will have seen this process if you’ve ever left potatoes in the cupboard too long and find them with white and green growth emerging.
Stand them rose end up – this is the one with small dents, or eyes, in
My favourite variety is Kestrel, which makes a marvellous mash
the skin – and place inside an unused egg box. They are the perfect size to keep them upright. Potatoes are ready to plant when shoots are 3cm long.
Once all risk of frost has passed, compost, position and cover them in the ground. Start by digging a narrow trench and line it with compost. Space the seed tubers, with shoots facing towards the surface, 30cm apart for earlies – allow a bit more space for second earlies and maincrop varieties such as Picasso AGM or hardy Desiree.
Handle the delicate tubers carefully, pressing over the soil to let nature do her work. Keep the foliage away from the actual potatoes underground. Mounding is where you repeatedly bank up the earth over the emerging shoots, forcing them to grow up towards the light. Repeat until shoots and leaves are well away from tubers.
Once they have begun to grow, they need lots of water. If summer is wet and warm, be careful of overwatering, which can cause fungal diseases like potato blight, where leaves and stems go brown. Try blight-hardy Sarpo Mira or stick to earlies, which are usually harvested before blight strikes.
TUCKING IN
Now you know how to grow, it’s time to make the most of your bounty.
With earlies, simply dig them up and eat. With second earlies and maincrop, they will stay in the ground a bit longer and two weeks before you want to lift them, cut off growth at ground level. It gives skins more time to toughen up.
The trick is to use a garden fork for easy harvesting by just teasing them out, or use your hands.
My favourite way to use spuds is to take a peeling glove, with its rough surface for grating, and lightly rub off the skin. Don’t peel them, just rough them up and dislodge the thicker parts of the skin for that rustic taste.
Then boil, add a knob of butter, pinch of rock salt and parsley to serve.