Potatoes

Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) are dependable, productive allotment crops grown from specially prepared seed tubers. They suit traditional rows, no-dig beds, large pots and grow bags. A carefully chosen mixture of early and maincrop cultivars can provide small new potatoes from early summer, larger tubers into autumn and a stored supply for winter.

Buy certified virus-free seed potatoes rather than planting supermarket tubers. Garden centres stock them in late winter and spring, while mail-order suppliers usually offer the widest choice. Early seed potatoes can be chitted before planting to shorten the wait for the first harvest, but chitting is optional and offers little advantage to long-season maincrops.

All green parts of the potato plant and green tubers are potentially harmful. Keep developing potatoes covered with soil or compost so light cannot turn them green, and discard green tubers at harvest.

First earlies mature fastest, sometimes in about 12 weeks, and occupy the least space. They are particularly useful for containers and small plots. Second earlies follow a few weeks later. Maincrops remain in the ground until late summer or autumn, generally producing more and larger potatoes suitable for baking, roasting and winter storage.

Consider flavour, waxy or floury texture, skin and flesh colour, intended kitchen use, yield, storage life and resistance to local diseases. An RHS Award of Garden Merit indicates reliable garden performance. Early cultivars are less likely to be caught by late blight because they can often be harvested before the disease becomes severe.

Recommended varieties

Potato ‘Red Duke of York’ AGM

A heritage first early with deep red skin, pale yellow floury flesh and excellent flavour. It is a vigorous, attractive all-rounder, especially good boiled or served as a salad potato.

Cultivar sourceAllotment Pro variety guide

Potato ‘Sharpe’s Express’ AGM

An heirloom first early with smooth skin, bright white flesh and a slightly pear-shaped form. It has a classic new-potato flavour, suits containers and can be boiled, steamed, roasted or used in salads.

Cultivar sourceAllotment Pro variety guide

Potato ‘Sarpo Mira’ AGM

A late red-skinned maincrop with pale flesh, good storage ability and broad kitchen usefulness. Its useful resistance to blight and slugs makes it a strong choice where those problems recur.

Cultivar sourceAllotment Pro variety guide

Potato ‘Pink Fir Apple’ AGM

An old-fashioned late salad potato with distinctive long, knobbly, pinkish tubers, waxy flesh and a creamy, nutty flavour. Harvest from early to mid-autumn for boiling, salads or chipping.

Cultivar sourceAllotment Pro variety guide

Potato ‘Nadine’ AGM

A high-yielding second early producing uniform short oval tubers with smooth white skin and firm cream flesh. Its slightly sweet flavour works for baking, boiling and chipping.

Cultivar sourceAllotment Pro variety guide

Potato ‘Maris Piper’ AGM

A popular maincrop valued for reliable heavy yields of well-flavoured potatoes with cream skin and flesh. Its floury texture makes it particularly useful for chips, roast potatoes and mash.

Cultivar sourceAllotment Pro variety guide

Potato ‘Maris Bard’ AGM

A very early, heavy-cropping cultivar with white skin and flesh and a delicious flavour. It is reliable in containers, tolerates drought and can be fried or boiled for salads.

Cultivar sourceAllotment Pro variety guide

Potato ‘Jazzy’ AGM

A modern second early carrying large numbers of small oval tubers with cream skin, pale yellow waxy flesh and good flavour. It performs well in containers and suits salads, boiling and roasting.

Cultivar sourceAllotment Pro variety guide

Potato ‘Vivaldi’ AGM

An easy, high-yielding early cultivar with smooth pale-golden tubers. Lift young for baby potatoes or leave it longer for larger early-maincrop tubers; it also suits containers and many cooking methods.

Cultivar sourceAllotment Pro variety guide

Potato ‘Desiree’ AGM

A heavy-cropping early maincrop with oval red skin, pale yellow firm flesh and good storage ability. It tolerates drought, has useful disease resistance and is an excellent baking and general-purpose potato.

Cultivar sourceAllotment Pro variety guide

Potato ‘Charlotte’ AGM

A popular second early salad cultivar producing good yields of smooth, oval yellow tubers with creamy-yellow waxy flesh. It has excellent flavour served hot or cold.

Cultivar sourceAllotment Pro variety guide

Potato ‘Casablanca’ AGM

A fast, multipurpose first early with smooth white skin, shallow eyes and creamy flesh. It crops well in containers and can be chipped, baked or boiled. ## 3 - Preparing The Ground Choose an open, sunny position that is not especially prone to late frost. Potatoes prefer deep, fertile, moisture-retentive but well-drained soil. Add generous garden compost or well-rotted manure in autumn or winter. In a no-dig system, a 10cm layer of organic matter can instead be applied at or after planting. An organic general-purpose fertiliser may improve yield where soil fertility is low. Rotate potatoes to a different part of the plot each year to slow the build-up of soil-borne pests and diseases. Do not plant into waterlogged ground. Prepare enough room for earthing up: early rows need less space than the larger, longer-lived maincrop plants. For containers, choose early cultivars and use a pot at least 30cm wide and deep with free drainage. Half-fill it with about 15cm of peat-free multipurpose compost. Grow one seed potato for each 30cm of container diameter. ## 4 - Planting To chit first and second earlies, stand the seed potatoes with the end carrying most eyes uppermost in egg boxes or seed trays. Keep them cool, bright and frost free for four to six weeks until sturdy sprouts are about 5cm long. Begin in late January in mild districts or as late as early March in colder places. Unchitted potatoes still grow successfully but crop later. Plant first earlies around late March, second earlies in early to mid-April and maincrops from mid-April to early May, adjusting for local frost and soil conditions. Dig a trench 15cm deep, set the tubers with sprouts uppermost, cover with at least 2.5cm of soil and water. Space earlies 30cm apart in rows 60cm apart; give maincrops 37cm between plants and 75cm between rows. In pots, set the seed potato just below the compost surface. Add more compost gradually after shoots appear until the level sits just below the rim. Pierced grow bags or sacks are suitable alternatives. For a very early crop, plant chitted earlies in greenhouse containers at the beginning of March. Cold-stored seed potatoes planted in July or early August can produce a protected Christmas crop. ## 5 - Plant Care When shoots reach about 23cm, draw soil around each plant to form a ridge while leaving the top 10cm visible. Repeat several times at intervals until the ridge is 20–30cm high. Earthing up shields shoots from late frost, suppresses weeds and prevents light reaching developing tubers. Add compost in the same way around container plants. Water during dry weather, particularly while tubers are swelling. Containers need regular attention throughout the season, even after rain, because foliage can shed water beyond the pot. Avoid alternating drought and saturation. Weed during the first month or two; established leafy plants and repeated earthing up then shade most competitors. Well-prepared ground rarely needs feeding. On poor soil, maincrops may benefit from a nitrogen-rich organic feed around the second earthing up. Mix an organic general-purpose fertiliser into container compost before planting or begin an organic liquid feed once the compost's nutrients decline, often after about six weeks. Protect newly emerged shoots whenever frost is forecast, using a cloche, hessian, straw, soil or compost overnight. Keep containers frost free until outdoor risk has passed. ## 6 - Harvesting Check progress by gently exposing one or two tubers and covering them again if they are still too small. First earlies are normally ready in June and July, and second earlies in July and August. Lift earlies when flowers open or buds fall and tubers are roughly hen's-egg size. Maincrops are harvested from late August through October and may remain in healthy ground until mid-autumn to bulk up. Insert a fork at least 30cm from the stem and lift carefully, then search by hand to avoid damage. Tip container compost out and gather the crop. Discard all green potatoes. Use early potatoes promptly. For maincrops intended for storage, wait until foliage yellows, remove the top growth and leave the tubers in the ground for another ten days. Lift in dry weather, allow them to dry for a few hours and brush away loose soil without washing. ## 7 - Storing Store only sound, undamaged and fully dry maincrop potatoes. Place them in paper or hessian sacks or on slatted trays in a cool, dry, frost-free and completely dark position. Darkness prevents greening and slows sprouting. Plastic bags trap moisture and encourage rot. Inspect the crop every few weeks and remove soft, damaged or rotting tubers before decay spreads. Aim to use stored potatoes by early spring, when they naturally begin to sprout and shrivel. Earlies have thin skins and are best eaten soon after lifting rather than stored for months. ## 8 - Problem Solving Crop rotation, certified seed potatoes, good drainage, careful watering and prompt removal of diseased material prevent many difficulties. Slugs may tunnel into maincrop tubers during damp autumn weather, while wireworms are most troublesome where grassland has recently been cultivated. Potato cyst nematodes accumulate when potatoes and tomatoes are grown repeatedly in the same ground. Late blight can spread rapidly in warm, wet weather, blackening foliage and infecting tubers. Act promptly and do not store tubers from an affected crop. Scab marks the skin but often leaves the flesh usable. Blackleg causes dark decay at the stem base, while tuber rots may appear at lifting or later in store. Virus symptoms include mottling, distortion and loss of vigour; certified seed reduces the risk.

Cultivar sourceAllotment Pro variety guide

Choose an open, sunny position that is not especially prone to late frost. Potatoes prefer deep, fertile, moisture-retentive but well-drained soil. Add generous garden compost or well-rotted manure in autumn or winter. In a no-dig system, a 10cm layer of organic matter can instead be applied at or after planting. An organic general-purpose fertiliser may improve yield where soil fertility is low.

Rotate potatoes to a different part of the plot each year to slow the build-up of soil-borne pests and diseases. Do not plant into waterlogged ground. Prepare enough room for earthing up: early rows need less space than the larger, longer-lived maincrop plants.

For containers, choose early cultivars and use a pot at least 30cm wide and deep with free drainage. Half-fill it with about 15cm of peat-free multipurpose compost. Grow one seed potato for each 30cm of container diameter.

To chit first and second earlies, stand the seed potatoes with the end carrying most eyes uppermost in egg boxes or seed trays. Keep them cool, bright and frost free for four to six weeks until sturdy sprouts are about 5cm long. Begin in late January in mild districts or as late as early March in colder places. Unchitted potatoes still grow successfully but crop later.

Plant first earlies around late March, second earlies in early to mid-April and maincrops from mid-April to early May, adjusting for local frost and soil conditions. Dig a trench 15cm deep, set the tubers with sprouts uppermost, cover with at least 2.5cm of soil and water. Space earlies 30cm apart in rows 60cm apart; give maincrops 37cm between plants and 75cm between rows.

In pots, set the seed potato just below the compost surface. Add more compost gradually after shoots appear until the level sits just below the rim. Pierced grow bags or sacks are suitable alternatives. For a very early crop, plant chitted earlies in greenhouse containers at the beginning of March. Cold-stored seed potatoes planted in July or early August can produce a protected Christmas crop.

When shoots reach about 23cm, draw soil around each plant to form a ridge while leaving the top 10cm visible. Repeat several times at intervals until the ridge is 20–30cm high. Earthing up shields shoots from late frost, suppresses weeds and prevents light reaching developing tubers. Add compost in the same way around container plants.

Water during dry weather, particularly while tubers are swelling. Containers need regular attention throughout the season, even after rain, because foliage can shed water beyond the pot. Avoid alternating drought and saturation. Weed during the first month or two; established leafy plants and repeated earthing up then shade most competitors.

Well-prepared ground rarely needs feeding. On poor soil, maincrops may benefit from a nitrogen-rich organic feed around the second earthing up. Mix an organic general-purpose fertiliser into container compost before planting or begin an organic liquid feed once the compost's nutrients decline, often after about six weeks.

Protect newly emerged shoots whenever frost is forecast, using a cloche, hessian, straw, soil or compost overnight. Keep containers frost free until outdoor risk has passed.

Check progress by gently exposing one or two tubers and covering them again if they are still too small. First earlies are normally ready in June and July, and second earlies in July and August. Lift earlies when flowers open or buds fall and tubers are roughly hen's-egg size. Maincrops are harvested from late August through October and may remain in healthy ground until mid-autumn to bulk up.

Insert a fork at least 30cm from the stem and lift carefully, then search by hand to avoid damage. Tip container compost out and gather the crop. Discard all green potatoes. Use early potatoes promptly.

For maincrops intended for storage, wait until foliage yellows, remove the top growth and leave the tubers in the ground for another ten days. Lift in dry weather, allow them to dry for a few hours and brush away loose soil without washing.

Store only sound, undamaged and fully dry maincrop potatoes. Place them in paper or hessian sacks or on slatted trays in a cool, dry, frost-free and completely dark position. Darkness prevents greening and slows sprouting. Plastic bags trap moisture and encourage rot.

Inspect the crop every few weeks and remove soft, damaged or rotting tubers before decay spreads. Aim to use stored potatoes by early spring, when they naturally begin to sprout and shrivel. Earlies have thin skins and are best eaten soon after lifting rather than stored for months.

Crop rotation, certified seed potatoes, good drainage, careful watering and prompt removal of diseased material prevent many difficulties. Slugs may tunnel into maincrop tubers during damp autumn weather, while wireworms are most troublesome where grassland has recently been cultivated. Potato cyst nematodes accumulate when potatoes and tomatoes are grown repeatedly in the same ground.

Late blight can spread rapidly in warm, wet weather, blackening foliage and infecting tubers. Act promptly and do not store tubers from an affected crop. Scab marks the skin but often leaves the flesh usable. Blackleg causes dark decay at the stem base, while tuber rots may appear at lifting or later in store. Virus symptoms include mottling, distortion and loss of vigour; certified seed reduces the risk.

Common problems