How to Select The Right Potatoes
Have you ever dreamt of growing your own potatoes but you have no idea where to start? Or perhaps you have a tried and tested favourite, but you’re looking to improve your harvest or to try something new? We’ve put together this handy potato guide to help you get the most out of your spuds this year!
Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) are an absolute staple of many vegetable plots as they are fun and easy to grow with a surprising range of varieties. Nothing quite beats the excitement of unearthing your hard-earned treasures ready for a bountiful feast. Beautiful buttery new potatoes, perfectly fluffy mash, giant crispy jackets, or piles of crunchy roasties – the world really is better with homegrown potatoes!
But with so many varieties to choose from, and a lot of confusing labels, which potatoes should you pick and why?
The first factor to consider when picking your varieties is what you can use them for in the kitchen.
Some potatoes have distinctive flavours, like the nutty Anya or Ratte varieties, whilst others are perfect for particular dishes. Maris Pipers are a great all-rounder that make fantastic chips due to their high starch and low moisture content, whilst Vivaldis are good for most uses but excel as jackets where their flavour really shines.
Take a look at our individual potato listings for more information about the varieties and the best ways to use them.
The second factor is when to plant and harvest your spuds. Some potatoes plant early for an early harvest whilst others need more time in the ground before they’re ready, so it’s important to select the right type pf potatoes, depending on what you're looking for. Read on for more information.
Potato TYPEs
First Earlies: These potatoes, also known as ‘new’ potatoes, are planted early and grow very quickly, sometimes in as little as 12 weeks. They tend to be smaller with thinner skin and firm flesh, perfect for boiling.
These varieties are often more blight resistant as they have already been harvested before the disease sets in.
They take up less room than later cropping potatoes and are an excellent choice for smaller spaces and for enthusiastic gardeners who are impatient to sample their produce. Typically, this type of potato should be planted in early spring ready for harvesting in early summer.
Pentland Javelin potatoes are a good-yielding, disease-resistant first early.
Second Earlies: Also known as ‘new’ potatoes and take a few weeks longer to mature in the ground than first earlies.
They are perfect for those of us who, despite our best efforts, never quite manage to get our first earlies in the ground!
They are also known for having thinner skin and firmer flesh, and many second early varieties make excellent salad potatoes.
Generally, they are planted a couple of weeks later in mid-spring and are ready to harvest around 3 months later in mid-summer.
Charlotte potatoes are a tasty and versatile second early that is perfect for potato salads.
Kestrel potatoes are a larger, more recent second early known for its delicious taste and striking blue eyes.
An added benefit of early variety potatoes is that they are harvested by mid-summer, opening up your growing space for later crops of vegetables like Dwarf Bean Slenderette or a secondary sowing of lettuce like our Crispy Mix – it’s the perfect way of maximising your space and growing time, giving you more delicious homegrown produce to use!
Maincrop: These potatoes take a lot longer in the ground to mature, but they produce plentiful harvests of much larger potatoes that store well and can be used for a longer period than both early varieties.
Some of the most popular and well-known potato varieties fall into this category, and they are a favourite amongst many vegetable growers.
They are typically planted in mid-spring and are harvested in late-summer to early-autumn.
It’s also important to remember that some varieties, like our Organic Sarpo Axona potatoes, are known as late maincrops, as they are harvested even later in the year.
Desiree are an eye-catching, deep red maincrop that is drought-resistant and a great all-rounder in the kitchen.
King Edwards are a traditional maincrop with red splashes across their skins and an excellent taste.
Once you’ve decided which potatoes you want to grow, make sure you get your seed potatoes on order to avoid missing out! Check out our full range today.
For more information on the next steps to growing potatoes, read our blog about chitting your potatoes here.
