Kitchen Garden

POTATOES

Driving through Youghal, in County Cork, last autumn, I learnt that Sir Walter Ralegh had been mayor of the town towards the end of the 16th century. More importantly, he is credited with introducing the potato to Ireland, which led to a huge increase in the island’s population, followed by the famine of 1845 which killed a million people and caused mass emigration to America.

One could go on, as Henry Hobhouse does in his radical book Seeds of Change, to argue that the immigrant Irish were largely responsible for America’s anti-imperialism and for its delayed entry into both world wars. As I buy my seed potatoes each year, now ‘chitting’ in cardboard egg trays, I reflect on this version of history and on the

potato’s origins among the Incas of the high Andes.

I have tried growing a few early varieties of this indispensable vegetable, but my number one choice is Foremost, with its smooth skin and deliciously white flesh. Depending on weather conditions, the tubers, once sprouted, can be planted from the beginning of March. Another favourite potato, described as a second early, is Charlotte, which I will plant about a fortnight after Foremost.

When the plants are about six inches high, they should be earthed up, using a draw hoe, to protect them from frost and keep light from the tubers. Last year I failed to do this before a late frost, but the blackened shoots were replaced by new green growth after a couple of weeks.

I start to lift a few potatoes when the plant’s flowers open; Foremost should be ready from mid-june, coinciding nicely with the first broad beans. If you want to guard against blight, which may be a problem in wet summers, a fungicide should be applied.

Main crop varieties have the disadvantage of taking up space for the whole season, but I cannot resist growing the knobbly Pink Fir Apple, which has an excellent flavour, hot or cold. Last year I tried the fashionable, somewhat similar, Ratte, but the crop was smaller and the taste less satisfying.