Growing Potatoes - How to Grow Potatoes

Information about seed potatoes, selecting potato varieties to grow,buying and chitting seed potatoes, planting and harvesting your potatoes.

There are many of different potato varieties to choose from.

Which can be confusing for would-be first time potato-growers.

Seed Potatoes. Are usually described as early,second early and main crop.

These names - earlies, second earlies and main crop potatoes indicate when they are ready to harvest.

This will also help guide you as to which seed potatoes to buy and when to plant and harvest them.

Generally only main crop potatoes are suitable for storage;

Remember that they are harvested later in the growing season and therefore they take up more space for longer in the vegetable plot.

First earlies once ready are best harvested as and when you want them.

They taste delicious freshly dug up and cooked with in hours as baby new potatoes.

The names -

first early,second early and main crop will appear on the seed potatoes label when you buy them.

If you are ordering your seed potatoes on-line the site will give you a clear indication of which type they are.

The label or description of the seed potato will also give you an indication of -

the space you'll need ( between the individual seed potatoes and the rows of potatoes) -

this wil be a good guide as to how closely they can be planted together. It will also tell you when they can be planted but when you plant will vary from year to year. The reason for this is things like a late on-set spring when there is still risk of frost or even (in the UK) how far North you live this may vary your planting time by weeks. This requires the patience to wait for the right conditions, however you will have started to chit your potatoes in a frost free place.

The main-crop potatoes will require more space on your vegetable plot and will stay in the ground for longer.

Some potatoes are quicker to reach maturity (especially first earlies) than others and their names are an indication of this: e.g. Rocket and Swift are quick to develop first earlies.

If you're short of space, first early seed potatoes a good choice as they are ready and harvested sooner.

First earlies are less likely to encounter pest problems as they're lifted so much earlier in the year.

If you are not sure if your potatoes are ready to lift and eat see the link at the foot of this page.

Second early potatoes: Take about 16 to 17 weeks to mature after planting , so you should be able to harvest second earlies from very late June to the start of August.

Main Crop potatoes: Are ready approx. 18 to 20 weeks after planting, depending on conditions and the variety you have planted so they can be lifted (usually) from July through to October.

Main Crop potatoes take up the most space to grow and can occupy the land when you might need it to grow other crops. They are probably the best varieties to grow if you want to store potatoes to use later.

Remember that First Early Potatoes do not store well -

so harvest and eat as new potatoes as and when you need them.

To chit your seed potatoes.

Chitting means encouraging the seed potatoes to sprout before planting.

Begin chitting from late January in warmer parts of the country or in February in cooler areas... (UK) about six weeks before you intend to plant out the potatoes.

A seed potato/potato tuber has a more rounded, blunt end that has a number of 'eyes'.

Place the seed potato blunt end uppermost in trays or better still old egg boxes in a area with plenty of natural light.

The potatoes are ready to be planted out when the shoots are 1.5-2.5cm (0.5-1in) long.

Long spindly shoots are not ideal, you need strurdy growth.

Once the potato plants have grown stems then is the time to decide when you will earth them up.

To plant out your seed potatoes.

Plant your chitted potatoes when the soil has started to warm up, this will vary depending on the part of the country you live in and the weather conditions that year - as a rough guide usually from mid-March or early April. The best way to decide if the conditions are right the first time you grow your own potatoes is to get advice from an 'old timer' or even a younger gardener who has and is growing potatoes in the same part of the country as you. Be guided by when the more experienced plant their seed potatoes.

Planting seed potatoes. First method:

Dig a trench 7.5-13cm (3-5in) deep, the exact depth will vary according to the variety of potato you're planting and you should be guided by the instructions that come with your seed potatoes..

Plant early potatoes about 30cm (12in) apart with 40-50cm (16-20in) between the rows,

second earlies and maincrops about 38cm (15in) apart with 75cm (30in) between the rows.

• Handle your chitted tubers with care,put them into the trench with the shoots pointing upwards, take care not to break the shoots. Cover the potatoes lightly with soil.
• As soon as the green shoots appear, earth up each plant by covering it with a ridge of soil so that the shoots are just buried.
• You need to do this at regularly, at the end of the season each plant will have a small mound around it about 15cm (6in) high.

The other way is to dig individual holes for each seed potato this potato planting method works better on some soils than others.

Once planted remember to earth up your potatoes as the foilage develops.

You will need to earth up your potatoes as they grow - to prevent the light from getting to the developing potatoes. This helps to inccrease the yield of your crop too.

Remember to Water your potatoes in dry spells.

You will need to water the potatoes in dry spells - but do not go over the top with watering them profusely if they have been dry for ages - the skins might split. Build up the watering over a number of days.

Harvesting Your Home Grown Potatoes.

The best part about growing your own potatoes apart from eating them.

• Your seed potatoes should be ready for lifting some time between June to September, October depending on the varieties and the growing conditions.
• Earlies can be lifted and eaten as soon as they're ready. Which will be when above-ground growth is still green, and usually as soon as the flowers open. The foliage might go a bit floppy in the final stages but that could be a dry spell in the weather and not disease.

• Maincrop varieties can be kept in the ground much longer,until September, even though above-ground growth may well be looking past its best..

New potatoes - first earlies can be checked to see if they are ready to eat by checking them by furtling an explanation of furtling is to remove a few potatoes from the plant without digging up the plant to check if the potatoes are ready to harvest.

Furtling - Checking if your potatoes are ready to harvest.

There is a link to how to check if your potatoes are ready to harvest -

(it is in blueand is further down the page page )- the method to check is called furtling and one properly it does not damage the main plant or check its growth.

Growing Seed Potatoes.

• Potatoes like plenty of sun and try to avoid planting them in frost-prone sites. Frost can damage the developing foliage. The potato needs the foliage to develop.

• When starting up a vegetable plot on very weedy or old grassland, potatoes may help swamp out weeds with their fast-growing, extensive foliage.
• If you're short of space you can grow potatoes in containers.
• Potatoes need adequate water especially the tubers have reached the size of marbles. Without ample rainfall, the size and quality of the crop will be reduced if you don't water your potatoes. However you will probably still get a crop, just not such a big yield of potatoes as you might have had.

On final word - enjoy growing your own potatoes and do not to get concerned about what might go wrong.  

In many cases the potatoes can still be eaten - even with minor blemishes, remember supermarket potatoes have been sprayed with things (known as chemicals) to prevent some of the things that might happen.  

The worst that can happen to a potato crop is blight - it usually happens in damp years and you will need to take action if you get this on the crop. It is recognised by a colour on the leaves and if you have it on your crop there is a good chance that you will not be alone - your potato growing neighbours (it affects tomatoes too) will all be complaining about it. If you need advice as to what it looks like there is a link at below.

Sometimes you will harvest new potatoes that are so pretty and perfect you want to take a picture of them, occasionally they will have marks on from things like scab, or little holes in them it is not the end of the world. You can peel the scab off easily and still eat them. Remember - you are eating potatoes that you know where they come from and that have not had chemicals sprayed on them.

You will find varieties of seed potatoes that suit you soil conditions and that you like the flavour of - choosing which ones to grow next year is part of the fun.

Enjoy eating your lovely home grown new potatoes, once you taste them I am sure you will want to grow them again next year.

Scab - Common scab in potatoes: causes raised, rough patches of skin on the tuber surface.

Powdery scab - in potatoes causes Irregular brown depressions containing masses of dusty brown spores on the surface of tuber.

Light attacks of either disease are only superficial and do little to affect eating quality, This means when the potatoes are peeled ready for use you remove the unsightly marks on the skin.

However severe attacks can lead to cracking of the skin and rotting of the tubers.

Next year when planting potatoes select a variety of seed potato that is resistant to scab and remember to use crop rotation in your planting plan i.e. do not plant potatoes in the same area next year.

Watering the plants with the right amount of water at the right time in their development in dry spells may be helpful in future years of growing your own potatoes.

The weather conditions in some parts of the UK in late summer 2010 have proved ideal for blight conditions so here are links to help identify it and advice on what to do.

If your potatoes have had foilage with signs of blight you can probably still eat the crop you harvest, but do not count on them storing well and the ones you harvest check regularly for blight damage. A potato with well advanced blight will rot and produce a nasty smell as it turns to a 'mushy pulp'.