Focus on... Maincrop potatoes

Plant and protect your potatoes in the right way and you’ll be rewarded with tastyharvests. Lucy explains how to ensure your homegrown spuds are worth the wait

- Lucy Chamberlain

WHEN it comes to growing spuds for roasting, boiling, mashing, chipping or baking, bulk is definitely the name of the game. So how do you guarantee superb quality and yields?

The right spots for spuds

Assign your potatoes to a sunny, open spot – being tender, they enjoy warmth while good airflow will deter the humidity that encourages late blight (see page 20). Unlike many veggies, a slightly acid soil is preferred, so don’t habitually lime bare beds in early spring.

For top-notch maincrop potato yields, ample fertiliser is required – phosphate and nitrogen, in particular. Non-organic growers could add sulphate of ammonia (for nitrogen) and superphosphate at planting, and again on earthing up. Organic gardeners can rely instead on fish, blood and bone Spacing for traditional rows is also important (see page 20); 14in (35cm) is standard, but go wider on light soils if you can to alleviate drought effects and get the biggest tubers. Plant too close on any soil and your tubers will be small.

Potato protection

Obtaining early leaf cover is crucial for good yields, and tuber bulk is directly related to leaf surface area at the ‘marbling’ stage (when tubers just begin to form). Protect foliage from late frosts and water during dry spells to create a generous canopy. Once this stage is reached, weed control isn’t necessary. Lay straw or mulch around no-bed systems, otherwise earth up rows in the early stages.

Then just keep irrigation topped up – the objective being to allow maincrops to grow well into the autumn, where they’ll put on that all-important weight.

Three best ways to grow spuds