Chips are down for choosing your potatoes
Potato consumption in the UK is huge. Chips, mash or crisps, there’s no escaping this vegetable’s presence throughout the year as a staple part of the nation’s diet. No wonder, it’s high on the weekly shopping list for many, and a mustgrow for allotment holders and home gardeners.
There’s an element of excitement when the bags of seeds (tubers) appear on display at the beginning of a new growing season, as was the case last week when we headed for our favourite garden centre.
Walking along the displays was rather like meeting up with old friends, and just in case you’d embarrassingly forgotten their names, each was displayed in bold print.
Newcomers to growing them could well be confused by the choice of sections on display, viz First Early, Second Early and Maincrop, so a brief explanation might be in order. First and second early types are planted in late March to early April and are ready to harvest late June to early July – a growing period of ten to 12 weeks. As planting time tends to coincide with Easter, which is a moving calendar feast, Good Friday planting has become a northern tradition.
Maincrop varieties are generally planted in late April and take 18 to 20 weeks to reach full maturity. Harvesting is in September.
Choice is often guided by the garden space available.
A large plot will accommodate a few rows of earlies which deliver a tasty home-grown crop from June to August, and still have room for main crop potatoes that can be stored for autumn and winter use.
Early potatoes are the best choice for a small garden because they are freshly harvested as required, rather than stored, and avoid the main thrust of potato blight which first appears in early summer.
The threat of this disease is acknowledged in the greater planting distances for maincrop potatoes. Whereas early varieties are set 12” between plants and 24” between rows, maincrops are offered 15” and 30” respectively.
Although it’s far too soon for planting out, it still makes sense to buy now and encourage the shoot-developing process (chitting) which can take several weeks.
All you need is a tray or egg cartons to hold the tubers upright, with eyes facing skyward.
Place them in a frost-free environment with plenty of daylight and check occasionally.