The UK potatoes for schools project teaches primary aged children about potatoes.
Children learn:
- how potatoes grow
- how potatoes fit in to a healthy balanced diet
The potatoes for schools project is linked to the UK curricular.
All you have to do is register your school to:
- receive a FREE potato growing kit
- use the supporting lesson plans and worksheets
- have a chance to win fabulous prizes for your school
- enter the competition once you have harvested
Click this link to take part in the potato growing project for schools.
Vales Emerald is a popular, high yielding, first early potato variety which tastes good.
Vales Emerald :
- produces a large number of new potatoes
- matures quickly , making it a very early potato
- is a Maris Peer x Charlotte cross
- has red violet flowers
vales emerald potato seed
Vales Emerald potato tubers are:
- round to oval
- white skinned
- cream fleshed
- shallow eyed
- firm & waxy
- great tasting
Uses of Vales Emerald:
- boil or steam
- serve hot or cold
- ideal salad potato
Click this link to buy some seed of the first early variety of potatoes Vales Emerald
Chitting potatoes must be done properly, according to John Sarup of the SAC.
Chitting is the controlled production of sprouts on seed potatoes before planting. But the controlled production of sprouts is the key. The length & strength of the sprout must be controlled to give a short (1.5-2.5cm (0.5-1in) long), stubby, green chit.
The 3 factors involved in chitting are:
- temperature – 4 degrees Celsius is ideal, but the temperature should not go above 10 degrees, neither should it reach freezing.
- ventilation - plenty of fresh air
- light - plenty of light – but not bright sunlight – a north facing window is best
Early and late main crop potatoes could especially benefit from the chitting , but it must be done properly.
The recently launched potato variety Accord is a first early.
Accord potatoes are:
- first early
- disease resistant – Double eelworm resistant
- high yielding
- creamy fleshed
- very tasty
- easy to grow
- ideal for containers, patio planters, a sunny balcony or roof terrace
Click this link to order some Accord seed potatoes, which are a first early variety.
The potato variety Premiere is a first early potato.
Premiere potatoes are:
- first early
- pale yellow-skinned
- yellow fleshed
- oval shape
- firm and dry texture
- good for chips, boiling, New Potatoes, & Salad Potato
- golden eelworm resistant
Click this link to buy some seed poatoes, variety Premiere.
We have been covering the soil to keep it dry before potato planting.
- At the end of November we put an old plastic sheet over the bed which was coming potatoes. We held it down with bricks, old pallets & a few strategically placed stakes. The idea was to keep the rain off, so that it did not become too wet to dig in the spring
- Over the last few weeks we have rolled the sheet back to do a bit of digging – & have just finished the job.
digging potato ground
- On sunny or windy days we rolled the sheet back to let the soil dry. Yesterday was the first good drying day we had had for ages – warm sun & a drying wind.
cover-rolled-back
- Luckily, we remembered to put the cover back on in the evening
sun-drying-soil
- Today the sheet was covered in snow! If the sheet had not been on, the snow would have wet the soil, which would have delayed potato planting. Before the potatoes are planted the soil needs to be dry & warm, otherwise they will not start to grow & will rot.
snow-on-sheet-cover
Covering the soil before potato planting will mean that we can be more in control of the dates we plant potato seed.
When to plant seed potatoes depends on many factors:
- variety of potato
- location of potato plot
- weather
- condition of soil
- protection available
seed-potato-in-planting-hol
Potato varieties can be divided into three main types & each type has a different growing season:
- New Potatoes, or earlies – planted from January* to March and are ready for digging from May-July
- Second earlies – planted between February* and May and harvested from July to October
- Maincrop- planted in April and harvesting is in September and October
*WARNING – in the UK most potato planting is usually delayed until March, in sheltered and southern areas, or April in colder parts, unless protection is available.
If potatoes are planted too early there is a danger that:
- the seed will rot in the ground if it is wet & cold
- the shoots will be frosted off when the new, tender shoots emerge before the last frost.
potato-shoot-emerges
Location of potato plot is important:
- Plots in the south of the UK can usually plant a few weeks earlier than those in the north
- Sheltered plots can be planted earlier
- Plots in frost pockets need extra care
potato-shoots
The weather for the current year determines when the potatoes can be planted. Temperature, rain & snow effect planting date. Some seasons are later than others, as is 2010!
cover soil
The condition of the soil must be right. There is no point putting potatoes into wet, cold soil. They will not start to grow & will probably rot off. But the ground can be covered with plastic to keep the rain off, so that the soil is kept dry before planting the potato seed. The plastic will also warm the soil a few degrees.
potato-row-polytunnel
When protection is available, potatoes can be planted earlier. Types of protection put over seed once planted:
- black plastic
- cloche
- polytunnel
- straw
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.
Click this link to buy some potato seed.
When considering the best time to plant potatoes there are many points to consider.
Blue Danube is an early maincrop potato variety. It was known as Adam Blue.
BlueDanubePotato
Properties of Blue Danube potato tubers:
- blue/purple skinned
- oval
- bright white flesh
- delicious
- general culinary use
The Blue Danube potato variety has good resistance to:
- blackleg
- potato virus Yo
- dry rot
- potato leafroll virus
- potato blight – tubers have excellent blight resistance, although the foliage has only moderate resistance.
Click this link to buy some Blue Danube potato seed, which is an early main crop variety.
It is useful to know how many potato tubers will be produced by one seed potato when calculating how many seed potatoes to plant in the vegetable garden.
plant-potato-in-hole
The number of potatoes produced by each seed potato varies according to:
- variety
- number of chits
- apical dominance
- planting distance
- early or maincrop
- growing conditions etc…
new-potatoes-lifted
The new potatoes, in the photo above, all came from one root.
Any number of new potatoes, from 2 – 10, can be produced from one seed potato. But most vegetable gardeners would expect at least 6 and preferably 8 -10 new potatoes from each seed tuber planted in the vegetable garden!
It is not necessary to chit potato seed.
chitting-in-egg-box
But chitting does bring an earlier crop because chitting starts the growing process.
- This is particularly important for new or early potatoes, as the growing season is short & every day counts!
- Many people do not chit maincrop poatoes because the potatoes seem to catch up over the long season.
Chitting does act as an insurance. If the planting season is delayed because of bad weather, or family duties, the potatoes have actually started growing so will not be quite so delayed.
Chitting is not necessary, but it does start the shoots growing on the seed potatoes, so chitting is popular with early potato growers.
