Crop type: Potatoes
Solanum tuberosum ‘Maris Bard’
Common name: Potato ‘Maris Bard’
Crop slug: potatoes
This Allotment Pro editorial draft summarises the cited RHS cultivar profile and its linked crop guidance. Check the sources and adjust cultivation decisions for local conditions.RHS cultivar profile
1 - Overview
‘Maris Bard’ is an AGM heavy-cropping first-early potato ready to lift near the start of the season. It produces delicious white-skinned, white-fleshed tubers and is regarded as one of the most reliable early cultivars. Its semi-dry flesh is suitable for frying or for boiling as a salad potato.
The RHS profile records good resistance to drought, damage and bruising. These traits are valuable in exposed plots, containers that dry quickly and at harvest, when thin-skinned early potatoes can otherwise be easily marked.
2 - Size
- Ultimate height
- 0.5–1 metre
- Ultimate spread
- 0.1–0.5 metre
- Time to maturity
- one year
- Crop class
- first early
- Tuber form
- smooth white-skinned tubers with white semi-dry flesh
Space plants about 30cm apart in rows 60cm apart. Its compact early habit also suits a large container, with one seed potato per 30cm of pot diameter.
3 - Growing conditions
- Suitable soils
- Clay, loam or sand
- Moisture
- Moist but well drained
- Preferred pH
- Acid, neutral or alkaline
Use deep, fertile, moisture-retentive soil enriched with well-rotted manure or garden compost. Although the cultivar shows useful drought resistance, regular moisture produces the best yield and tuber quality. Always maintain free drainage.
4 - Position and hardiness
- Light
- Full sun or partial shade
- Aspect
- South- or west-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- Hardiness
- H2
Plant in an open, frost-free site. A sheltered position supports its earliest growth, but emerging shoots should still be earthed up or covered whenever late frost is forecast.
5 - Colour and seasonal interest
Bushy clumps carry green deciduous foliage above the ridge. The early harvest is pale and clean-looking, with white skin and white flesh. The cultivar illustration should present an abundant crop of smooth early tubers without yellow, pink or red colouring, and may show a cut surface to establish the white semi-dry interior.
6 - Botanical details
- Family
- Solanaceae
- Native to Great Britain and Ireland
- No
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Habit
- Bushy, clump forming
- Name status
- Accepted
Genus
Solanum includes annuals, perennials, shrubs and climbers with simple or divided leaves, five-lobed flowers and fleshy fruits. Potato cultivars are cultivated for underground stem tubers rather than their harmful berries.
Safety
Eat only sound, non-green tubers. Potato foliage, stems, flowers, berries, sprouts and green tuber tissue are harmful if eaten. Keep unwanted plant material away from children and pets.
7 - How to grow
Cultivation
Chit certified seed potatoes rose-end uppermost for four to six weeks in a cool, bright and frost-free place. Plant first earlies around late March, adjusting for local weather. Set tubers sprouts upwards in trenches about 15cm deep and cover with at least 2.5cm of soil.
Draw earth around stems once shoots reach about 23cm, leaving the upper 10cm exposed, and repeat until the ridge is 20–30cm high. In containers, begin half-full and add peat-free compost gradually. Water in dry periods despite the cultivar's drought tolerance.
Check tuber size from June and lift when flowers open or buds drop and potatoes reach roughly hen's-egg size. Place the fork at least 30cm from the stem and finish by hand. Its damage and bruising resistance is helpful, but careful lifting still preserves the delicate early skins.
Propagation
Propagate vegetatively from certified seed potatoes, chitted before planting for the earliest possible harvest.
Suggested locations
- Allotment or vegetable row
- Cottage or informal garden
- Raised or no-dig bed
- Large patio container
- Potato grow bag
Pruning
No pruning is required. Remove seriously diseased foliage promptly and dispose of blighted material appropriately.
Pests
May be susceptible to cutworms, slugs, wireworms, leaf and bud eelworm and potato cyst nematodes. Early lifting helps reduce the period in which soil pests can damage tubers.
Diseases
May be susceptible to potato scab, blight, tuber rot, blackleg, stem canker and, rarely, honey fungus. Start with certified seed, rotate annually and avoid waterlogged soil.