A beginner's guide to growing potatoes

Where to start?

Hardly anyone grows potatoes from seed these days.

Most people buy seed potatoes (specially grown tubers) from garden centres in January and February. They look like little potatoes which during the colder months you’ll need to start off indoors.

What type of potatoes should I grow?

There are two categories – earlies or maincrops.

Earlies, which we know as new potatoes, are ready for harvesting much sooner than maincrops – the fastest maturing varieties will be ready to lift by the end of June – and are a good bet if you are only going to be able to grow a few in a large pot or bin with drainage holes.

Second earlies are generally ready to harvest in July and August, while maincrops are in the ground a lot longer, harvesting from late August through to October, and produce larger spuds and often a greater harvest.

Chit the seed potatoes

Do this from late January onwards, by placing your seed potatoes on a tray or in open empty egg boxes on the windowsill, or another frost-free place with light, with the end with the most ‘eyes’ facing upwards to ‘chit’ them.

Within a few of weeks, the eyes will begin to sprout, forming new shoots called ‘chits’. Label each variety you chit.

The green shoots should be 2-4cm long by mid-March to April when the weather is warm enough to plant them, as they don’t do well in cold, wet soil.

If you’re growing earlies, rub off the weakest shoots, leaving around four per tuber.

Prepare the ground

Ideally, the previous autumn or winter you want to add plenty of organic matter to the area where you are going to plant your potatoes.

Planting know-how

Plant your seed potatoes in a sunny spot. Dig a narrow trench around 12cm deep, spacing the tubers 30cm apart (with the sprouts facing upwards) for earlies and 37cm apart for maincrops, in rows 60cm apart for earlies and 75cm apart for maincrops.

Remember potatoes won’t tolerate frost, so don’t plant them until mid to late March, when the spring sun is warming the soil.