Van Meuwen - Grow your own potatoes

Jan. 6, 2011 - PRLog -- There’s nothing like the taste of fresh, home-grown potatoes and they’re so easy to grow whatever the size of your garden. You can grow them in the ground, on your patio or even grow them on your balcony! They’re also packed with nutrients – a great source of vitamin C, B6, and Potassium to name just a few. Read on to discover how to grow potatoes.

When to grow potatoes
Potatoes are normally planted in March for harvesting throughout summer and autumn. They can also be planted in August/September for Christmas new potatoes. When you receive your seed potatoes, set them out in a cool, dry and bright position to allow them to start sprouting (this process is called chitting). Aim to start chitting your potatoes 6 weeks before you plan to plant them.

What potato variety?
When it comes to potato growing, you may see varieties referred to as ‘First Earlies’ and ‘Maincrop’ – don’t let these technical terms put you off! This simply gives gardeners an idea of how long it will take to harvest their potatoes.

First Early – harvested about 10 weeks after planting and will produce new or baby potatoes.
Second Early – harvested about 14 weeks after planting
Maincrop – harvested up to 20 weeks after planting and are good for winter storage.
Second cropping/Christmas cropping – planted in late summer/early autumn and harvested about 14 weeks after planting as for second earlies

Growing potatoes in the ground
If you’d like to plant your potatoes in the ground, then simply break up the soil with a garden fork and dig in some organic matter such as compost (old or new), well rotted manure or recycled green waste. Plant your ‘chitted’ potatoes 30cm (1’) apart for first and second earlies and 45cm apart for maincrop types. Rows should be set out 60cm (2’) apart. Plant your potatoes with the sprouts upright, at a depth of about 10-15cm (3-6 inches). Cover the potatoes with soil and water them in. Once the plants are 25cm (10 inches) tall, draw up the soil around them about half way up the stem. This is called ‘earthing up’ and prevents potatoes near the surface from turning green and inedible.

Growing potatoes in containers
If you have limited space then try using Potato growing bags. You simply fill the bag one third full with multipurpose compost and place your chitted potatoes on the compost (1). Cover the potatoes with a further 15cm (6 inch) layer of compost then water them in. Once the shoots reach 25cm (10 inches) tall, top up your potato grow bag with more compost until you reach half way up the stems (2). You can keep adding compost as your potatoes grow (3). This mimics ‘earthing up’ as for potatoes grown in the ground, and prevents potatoes at the surface from turning green and inedible. Growing potatoes in bags reduces the risk of pests and diseases.

Caring for your potatoes
The only thing you need to be aware of when growing potatoes is that they are sensitive to frost. If hard frosts threaten once shoots emerge from the soil, lightly cover the shoots with a little soil or compost to protect them. In the North of the country it may be best to use some horticultural fleece and put your potato grow bags somewhere sheltered and frost-free. Plants will usually recover from light frost damage. Apart from this, just make sure you water your potatoes in dry periods. There’s no need to feed them.

Harvesting your potatoes
The best guide to when your potatoes are ready is the number of weeks since planting time – the number of weeks will be stated when you buy your potatoes. For early varieties it’s worth having a gentle dig below the surface to check the potato sizes – if they’re too small simply leave them for another week or so, otherwise lift them and enjoy! For maincrop potatoes, wait until the foliage has turned yellow before harvesting.

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Established as a producer of tulip and daffodil bulbs in 1973, Van Meuwen diversified into mail order in 1977. Today Van meuwen is a horticultural mail order specialist, http://www.vanmeuwen.com