There are few plants more comforting than a potato. Whether you have it fried, baked, boiled, pure.d, scalloped, or as latkes or gnocchi, potatoes rule the kitchen and our hearts. Potatoes are also valuable for their ability to break up soil in the patch.
Ideal growing conditions are cool and overcast with consistent moisture – basically, the UK. Of the thousands of varieties, representing a diversity of climates, pest/disease resistance, shapes, colours and taste, we have limited our diet to a bare few. To broaden your repertoire, source some weird and wonderful seed potatoes from a local nursery. Expose them to indirect light until they produce shoots and choose a site not previously occupied by tomato, eggplant, onion or chilli. Now, you are ready to plant (see Tubers, page 105).
The practice of ‘earthing’ is to repeatedly cover shoots with 20 cm (8 in) of soil/manure as they push through to the surface. DETERMINANT or short-season potatoes can be covered once and then shoots are allowed to turn to leaves. These tubers will mature to harvest in about 70–100 days. INDETERMINANT varieties will yield a bigger, albeit later harvest (110–140 days). The shoots of these varieties can be repeatedly earthed to increase the yield (three cycles is about enough). Each time the shoots are covered, a new level of tubers will form.
Harvesting is always a surprise party, as we never know what quantities of edible treasure we will discover under the surface.
PLANTING
Plant the sprouting potatoes, making sure each piece has one or two eyelets. Cover with 10-20cm of soil and water in with liquid seaweed solution, which you can reapply eery fortnight. For indeterminate varieties, we like using a separate pot or making a potato tower, as they are easy to empty out upon harvesting. Mulch with a 5cm of lucerne hay or pea straw.
WATERING
In ground: Water daily for the first 4 weeks and 3-4 times a week in the absence of rainfall thereafter.
In Pots: Water daily, in the absence of rainfall, for the entirety of the warm season, and then cut back to watering every second day during the cooler times of the year.
MAINTENANCE
Two weeks before planting integrate plenty of compost and nitrogen-rich fertiliser in the soil, and dig through some lucerne hay or pea straw.
Plant the sprouting potatoes, making sure each piece has one or two eyelets. Cover with 10–20cm of soil and water in with liquid seaweed solution, which you can reapply every fortnight. For indeterminate varieties, we like using a separate pot or making a potato tower, as they are easy to empty out upon harvesting. Mulch with a 5 cm layer of lucerne hay or pea straw.
If growing indeterminate varieties, after a month cover over the foliage with a 10–15cm layer of compost, encouraging another level of potatoes to develop. Mulch with a 5cm layer of lucerne hay or pea straw.
Repeat the process of covering over the growth with compost at 12 weeks. Mulch with a 5 cm layer of lucerne hay or pea straw.
HARVESTING
Time until first harvest: About 16-20 weeks
How to harvest: Potatoes grown in the garden bed are best harvested with a garden fork, which lifts away much of the plant while allowing excess soil to fall through its tines. When harvesting, sink the fork into the ground – giving a fairly wide berth from where you expect the first potato (you don’t want to spear it!) – to lift the earth and reveal the treasure growing beneath. Feel around for potatoes with your hands to find them all.
If growing in a pot or other container, simply tip the container over and spread the soil to discover your potato harvest.
TIP
If growing an indeterminant variety, consider growing in a spud tower or a felt pot for the best results.
