Tuber or not potato varieties Tuber?

NOTHING beats a freshly dug new potato. You dig, lightly brush off any soil from the tuber and pop it into a pan with the promise of a plate of mouthwatering buttery tatties. Enjoy this delight even when you’ve little more than a square metre of garden.

Committed allotmenteers will probably be growing rows of First Early, Second Early, and Maincrop potatoes, cramming their plates with these goodies and bagging up the rest to enjoy later in the year. But even with very limited space, you can grow a few tubers in bags or large pots.

When growing just a few potatoes, choose First Earlies as they have that unbeatable earlyseason taste. They also mature very quickly and have their best flavour when dug small, so are suitable candidates for bags and pots.

We all have our own ideas about which are the tastiest First Earlies so I won’t recommend particular varieties. But I’ll happily share my preferences. Varieties like Swift and Rocket are speedy growers and could be on your plate after 10 weeks, but I wouldn’t offend my palate by consuming these pretty tasteless specimens. By waiting an extra two or three weeks, I could relish a waxy Dunluce or Maris Peer. I’d make plenty space for the slightly drier Colleen.

Depending on where in Scotland you live, you’ll have to wait till the end of March or into April for planting outdoors. Potatoes are very frost-sensitive so the shaws, or growing shoots, can be frosted if planted too early. But you can get started much earlier than this when using a bag, or even grow some for Christmas, if you can give them protection from frost. I plant two 43-litre pots in the greenhouse this month but you could easily use a bright shed or anywhere that provides shelter from frost.

We’re often urged to plant up to five tubers in a bag but I limit

myself to two. The total weight of the harvest will be the same, however many tubers you use: I get good results with my preferred number.

If using something like an old compost bag, make drainage holes at the bottom and roll the side down till the bag is half its original height. Put 20cm of peat-free multi purpose or home-made compost at the bottom. I always use my own compost, as you’d expect.

Plant the tubers the right way up. You’ll see a circular indentation with a tiny withered growing shoot that had joined the tuber to the mother plant. Place it at the bottom and cover with 15cm of compost. Top up and unroll the bag to its full size as the shaws grow till the bag or pot is full.

Many First Early tubers are ready when the flowers have fully formed, though not all varieties produce flowers so stick a hand inside to see how they’re growing.

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