Thompson & Morgan have over 14 delicious potato varieties to choose from, starting at just £2.99 for 20 tubers. If you have never grown your own potatoes before, it’s really easy to do – check out the potatoes on offer by clicking this link.
START DATE: Now
END DATE for the GYO potatoes offer is Midnight Wednesday 29th February 2012 (subject to availability)
Maris-Bard-new-potatoes
Growing your own potatoes is very satisfying, and does not depend on possessing a large vegetable garden. Salad potatoes grow well in pots & containers.
Choose an early variety of potatoes as earlies grow well in pots – main crop varieties do not.
Potato varieties particularly suited to container growing are:
* Amandine
* Swift
Chit the seed for about six weeks, so that the sprouts are about 5cm (2in) long, and dark
in colour.
Prepare the container:
* Find a large container – at least 30cm (12in) across and deep, with drainage holes. Buckets, dustbins, plastic crates, pots or a heavy plastic bag will do the job if they have drainage holes in
the bottom.
* Put broken pottery, stones or polystyrene crocks in the bottom of the container to cover the drainage holes and prevent them getting bunged up with soil.
* Add a layer of compost 10cm (4in) deep . Use multipurpose compost or a mixture of loamy garden soil and compost or well rotted manure .
When to plant potatoes in containers
* Late January in an unheated greenhouse, cover with fleece in frosty weather
* Outside in late February in mild southern areas, or April in colder parts. Protect from frosts when forecast.
Plant the potatoes
seed-potato-in-planting-hole
* put three seed potatoes on the surface of the soil
* place so chits pointing upwards
* cover the potato seed with 15cm (6in) of the compost or soil
* add water if the compost is dry – until it drains out of the holes
* do not water again until the shoots appear
* place the pot in a light, sheltered spot
potato-shoot-emerges
This book by Alan Tichmarsh has lots of handy hints for potato growers:
Growing potatoes in containers or pots is rewarding and does not take up much room.
This is how a potato seed looks when it is ready for planting.
seed-potato-with-chits
The potato chit should be:
dark green
dark-green-chits
strong and stumpy
strong stumpy-chits
These Maris Bard potatoes have an ideal chit on the seed and are ready to plant.
potato-seed-ready-to-plant
Potato seed is always ready to plant – but it should not be planted until the
weather and soil conditions are favourable.
Potato seed is often chitted, so that it has started to grow before it is put in
the ground.
plant-MarisBard-12
The ideal potato chits are dark green and stubby, and will be ready to plant
when the ground & weather conditions are suitable.
plant-MarisBard-6
plant-MarisBard-7
plant-MarisBard-9
In an ideal world the potato seed will be hardened off, by placing it outside
during the day, to get it acclimatised, before planting. But it is often not
possible to do this.
Chitting potato seed gives the seed a good start and means that the new potatoes will be ready to harvest earlier. But the condition of the chit does not dictate when the potato seed is ready to plant. It is the soil & weather conditions in the garden which say when the seed is ready to plant.
Comments »
I’m just about to do mine this week, in bags though as I don’t have enogh
space.
Cheers Mark
Comment by Mark – April 6, 2008 10:29 am
I have my first earlies planted but was wondering when to plant my king
edwards which are chitting at the moment. i am going to consult your excellent
ebook.
Sara from farmingfriends
Comment by farmingfriends – April 6, 2008 8:01 pm
Hi Sara
Main crop potatoes can be planted when your soil is ready. It needs to have
dried out so that it does not stick to your hands when you run them through
it. If the soil is cold and wet, your potatoes are better chitting on the
window sill!
Glad you are finding the eBook useful!
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