For potato lovers, you can’t miss this collection that brings you the best and most loved early summer varieties, adding flavour and substance to spring salads or as Christmas roasties. Height and spread: 60cm (24″).
Potato Must Have Collection comprises:
‘Desiree’ – Most well known and popular red skin potato on the market. Maincrop;
‘King Edward’ – The ‘king’ of making the fluffiest mash potato or the crispiest roasties. Maincrop;
‘Charlotte’ – A second early salad variety, popular for producing good crops of medium sized oval tubers that are waxy when young and perfect hot or cold.
‘Maris Peer’ – Incredible taste that will hold structure and flavour when cooked. Second early;
‘Pentland Javelin’ – Delightful first early that produces waxy potatoes with lovely white flesh and skins.
Growing Information
Plant your seed potatoes according to their season. First Earlies from the end of February, and Second Earlies/Maincrops from March. Prior to planting, ‘chit’ the seed potatoes by setting them out in a cool, bright position (10C/ 50F) to allow them to sprout.
When growing potatoes in the ground avoid planting in soil where potatoes have grown for two years in succession to reduce the risk of disease. Prepare the planting area in a sheltered position in full sun on moist well drained soil. Dig in plenty of well-rotted manure. Plant potatoes in rows at a spacing of 30cm (12″). Rows should be set out 60cm (2′) apart. Place the seed potatoes into 10cm (4″) deep trenches and backfill the soil to refill the trenches. When shoots reach 20cm (8″), mound up soil around the shoots leaving just a few cm showing. Repeat this process after a further 3 weeks.
Where space is limited, try growing potatoes in potato bags on the patio. Fill an 8-litre potato bag to just below the top of the bag with good quality compost mixed with some well-rotted manure. Carefully plunge a single chitted potato tuber into the compost with the shoots pointing upwards at a depth of 12cm (5″) from the soil surface. Place the bags in a sunny position and water regularly to keep the compost moist.
