GardenCalendar.co.uk
OTHER POTATO PAGES
Your first decision when selecting a potato variety is to decide when you want it to be ready for harvesting. There are three groups of potato varieties in the UK based on how long they need to grow in the ground before they are ready for harvest.
These groups are First Early, Second Early and Maincrop varieties. Select any variety from the three drop down lists below for a full description of the advantages and disadvantages of each of the potatoes we have reviewed.
FIRST EARLY
This group is the earliest to mature and will
be ready for harvesting roughly 80 days after they are planted in their growing
site (open ground or containers). This will be
fourth week of June in average areas of the UK.
SECOND EARLY
Second early potato varieties are ready to start harvesting about 100 days after they are planted in their growing
site (open ground or containers).
This will be
second week of July in average areas of the UK
MAINCROP
Maincrop potato varieties are the last to mature and will be ready to start harvesting about 130 days after they are planted in their growing
site (open ground or containers).
This will be
fourth week of August in average areas of the UK.
Most gardeners love the unique taste of early new potatoes and these will be found in the group called First Early potatoes. Below we list the advantages and disadvantages of this group of potatoes.
ADVANTAGES OF FIRST EARLY POTATOES
DISADVANTAGES OF FIRST EARLY POTATOES
OUR RECOMMENDED VARIETIES FOR EARLY HARVEST
Accent - a very tasty first early potato with few negative points other than the skin is slightly thicker than other first earlies. Harvesting can be successfully delayed, however blight may then become a problem.
A low growing variety which resists spring / early summer winds well.
Arran Pilot - one of the best tasting first early potato varieties. First introduced in 1930, it suffered a crop failure in 2019 but has since been restored to normal production.
Lady Christl - excellent trouble free first early variety with great taste and thin skins. They have reasonable disease resistance where it counts for a first early potato.
Aside from harvesting potatoes as early as possible in the season, gardeners are very interested in which varieties are best suited to particular cooking purposes. Different potato varieties react very differently to different cooking methods.
Chips have similar requirements as for roasting. You want a potato that is more starchy than waxy but too much starch and they will inevitably disintegrate during the cooking process.
Most of the best potato varieties for chips are maincrop potatoes (see the paragraphs above) and most maincrop varieties are not suited to growing in containers. But some are and we recommend a couple of varieties which are fine for growing in containers and also excellent for cooking as chips.
Just as important as the potato variety and the growing method chosen for chips, is the cooking method. We recommend our preferred method for cooking chips at home.
For our in depth article about the best potato varieties for chips, click here.
During our taste trials three varieties stand out as exceptional for cooking roast potatoes. The seed potatoes are easily available to the average UK gardener and relatively easy to grow.
The results from all three resulted in roast potatoes with a crisp, light brown outer and a fluffy inside. We recommend our preferred method for cooking roast at home.
For our in depth article about the best potato varieties for roasting, click here.
For the best, smooth mashed potatoes you want a variety which is starchy. They break up easily when mashed and then have few or no lumps in them.
Taste is also vital, some potato varieties are bland, some have very strong flavours. The best for mashed potato is somewhere in between.
Lovers of mashed potato are lucky because several varieties meet these criteria. For our in depth article about the best potato varieties for mash, click here.
In common with many vegetables, potatoes can suffer from a variety of pests and diseases. The most feared of them all is potato blight. The top potato varieties for blight resistance are in the "Sarpo" family of potatoes, Sarpo Axona in particular.
Second best for blight resistance are Cara and Vitabella. See our page dedicated to potato blight for more information.
They other key problems for home grown potatoes are slugs and scab. There are other problems which can affect potatoes but the first step to dealing with them is a good crop rotation plan.
Slug resistance in potatoes is very difficult to quantify because so much depends on the soil the potatoes are grown in and the weather conditions during a year.
However, general consensus and our own growing experience indicates that Kestrel has excellent slug resistance. Charlotte and King Edward also fare well.
Marfona also seem to resist slugs well in heavy soil conditions.
Slug pellets containing metaldehyde were banned in the UK from 2022 onwards. Other types of slug pellets are available but they appear to very ineffective.
Nematodes definitely do kill slugs and cause no damage to other wildlife. The problem with nematodes is that they need to be applied to the soil at specific times of the year to be effective. Nematodes are most effective when they are applied two or more years in succession.
First early potato varieties, whilst not slug resistant, appear to do well because they are in the ground for a shorter period of time compared to second early and maincrop potatoes.
Scab causes potatoes to develop raised patches on the skin which are rough to touch. See our main article about potato scab to learn more about this problem.
Potato varieties which show resistance to common scab include King Edward, Golden Wonder, Orla, Accent, Pink Fir Apple, Nicola, Wilja and International Kidney (aka Jersey Royals).
OTHER POTATO PAGES
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS
CONCERNING THIS PAGE, ENTER THEM BELOW.
WE WILL ANSWER ON
THIS PAGE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE