With many new gardeners out there, and potatoes being one of the most popular root vegetables to grow due to the speed and amount of food they produce compared to any other major food crop and the ease of maintenance, we want to deep dive into the potato. The do's and don'ts along with the tips and tricks to getting the most bang for your buck!
Planting
Firstly we have planting. So the typical planting technique is to plant a seed potato in the ground 15cm below the surface and cover over. Spacing 45cm apart in rows 60cm between them.
However, there seems to be a lot of confusion around what type of potatoes you can plant and whether you plant the whole thing or not. Well really the simple hard and fast rule is that the potato needs to have "chitted", which basically means it needs to have sprouted and shoots be present. This happens naturally but can be encouraged by standing them in a cool light spot for approximately 6 weeks.
When to plant
Typically in spring, around the end of March, but you could plant throughout the year if they are covered; in a green house or indoors to keep off the frost. Try frost covers if you want to plant direct in the ground.
What type of potatoes can I use?
Now do you need seed potatoes. The answer is no! Seed potatoes are just small potato tubers, they will give a more reliable crop; but they are not required. Got a potato in your pantry that's started to sprout? Plant it. The chances of harvesting potatoes is very very likely. You can even slice off a chuck where the "eyes" are, which is basically another name for the sprouted bit, and plant that. If you have a number of "eyes" then you can plant them all separately as they will produce different plants. Always plant them with the "eyes" or shoots facing upwards, as this is where the plant stem will grow.
Where to plant potatoes
Homegrown potatoes do well in lots of different soil types, and are brilliant in difficult soil as they are fantastic at breaking up the soil, as they burrow and aerate the ground, ready for your next crop of cabbage for example. As a rule your main crop potato is better grown in the ground than pots and bags, as you will get a bigger potato as there's more room to grow. But salad potatoes or smaller potatoes are easily grown in bags, pots, old compost bags, buckets etc. where space is at a premium or harvesting in the ground is difficult.
How to care for the potatoes
Caring for potatoes is pretty simple. They like to be watered regularly, but are not exceptionally thirsty plants so you do not need to worry too much. Keeping the area they're in weed free will help, but again it isn't necessary. The main step to potato care is "earthing them" which in principle is just covering any shoots to stop the tubers becoming green. You want your potatoes to stay covered basically. You can use soil to do with by digging around the plant with a spade or a hoe or you can cover the plants with a mulch such as straw or grass cuttings. As long as you leave the top couple of centimetres at the top in sunlight so they can keep growing.
Problem solving
Typical problems when growing potatoes are:
- Seeds
A lot of new gardeners get confused when their potatoes start to grow what looks like fruit out of the stems. These are the potato seeds. They are poisonous and most gardeners dispose of them. As you can grow potatoes from potatoes it is uncommon to harvest potato seeds for re-planting.
- Slugs / eelworm
Slugs and potato eelworm are common pests when growing potatoes, which can stunt growth or consume the crop. The best way to reduce any slug problem is to go out at night with a torch and collect them by hand and reduce the amount of hiding spots as they love to hide!
- Blight
Blight is a fungal disease common in potatoes, which turns the foliage yellow and causes the potatoes to rot in the ground. Should your potatoes crops show signs of blight, even the slightest bit, remove and destroy all affected plants. Do not put in your compost bin if you can help it. If your potatoes have already developed tubers, you might be able to save them by cutting away the foliage and stems. Leave the soil undisturbed for 3 weeks to kill off any spores so that they don’t infect the crop when it is lifted.
Should you have any problems with disease or pests then it's best to rotate your planting areas to stunt the build up.
Harvesting potatoes
Harvesting potatoes from the ground by cutting the plants down to the ground, when the leaves start to yellow from the bottom, they die back and start to fall over and then prising the plant out of the ground with a fork.
To harvest potatoes grown in bags or pots simply tip the pot upside down and harvest the potatoes from the soil.
You don’t have to harvest them all in one go, leave them in the ground until you’re ready. They’ll last a while in the ground and will preserve for longer that way.
Eating and storing potatoes
Let your spuds sit outside in the sun for a couple of hours, the heat will set the skin by drying them slightly.
Store potatoes in a cool dry place, unwashed, for the longest storage time. Most people store them in paper bags in a cellar or shed, or in trays completely covered in soil; for the longest storage. Most potatoes will store for many months if undamaged. There must be no light or they will turn green, which in turn makes them poisonous. Brown bags are useful for storing.
Simply wash or peel your potatoes before cooking.
FAQs
When do I start chitting my potatoes?
Start chatting your seed potatoes around January time, it’ll take a few months to get them going and you want to be planting out your first earlies towards mid-end of March!
Make sure that you keep them indoors in a cool dry spot, unless you have a heated greenhouse.
What is this on my spuds?
The above image is potato scab, it’s completely harmless and you can still eat your potatoes, just peel them as normal and eat. They will not store for as long though due to lack of skin so bear this in mind. Due to lack of water during early development of the tubers or too much alkaline in the soil, so don’t add any lime for the next year.
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