RHS Growing Guides
Our detailed growing guide will help you with each step in successfully growing Potatoes.
1
Getting Started
Section 1 of 7
Potatoes are a traditional veg plot staple, easy and fun to grow, producing a plentiful crop in summer or early autumn. Whether youâre new to growing potatoes or have been doing it for years, digging up your buried bounty is always a thrill. And eating your first new potatoes of the season, steamed and served with butter or mint, is a highlight of early summer.
Harvesting your own potatoesis like digging for buried treasure
Potatoes are grown from specially prepared âseed potatoesâ (small tubers), usually planted in spring. With early varieties, the seed potatoes can be âchittedâ (or encouraged to sprout) before planting, to get them off to a head start and produce an earlier crop. As the plants grow, soil can be gradually piled up around the stems, known as earthing up, to bury the developing tubers. If you donât have room for a whole row of potatoes, you can grow just a few in a small bed or large container. You can even grow a winter harvest by planting in a large tub in late summer, then protecting the plants from frost in a greenhouse or sunny porch.
Potatoes are usually easy and reliable croppers, but they can be affected by several diseases, the most notorious being the fungal disease blight. However, this is less likely to affect early varieties and is less prevalent in dry summers.
Month by Month
Jobs to do now
- Earth up
- Water
- Harvest
- Earth up
- Water
- Harvest
J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | |
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Plant | N | N | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |
Harvest | N | N | N | N | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N |
2
Choosing
Section 2 of 7
With so many colours and flavours to tempt you, how can you resist growing potatoes?
Potato varieties are classed as either earlies or maincrops:
- Early varieties (first or second earlies) â are ânew potatoesâ, small, sweet and delicious. Theyâre faster growing, ready to harvest in as little as 12 weeks. The plants take up less space, so are useful in smaller plots, and can be grown in containers. As theyâre harvested by midsummer, they free up space to grow another crop, such as courgettes or beans, for the rest of the summer
- Maincrop varieties are in the ground a lot longer, through to late summer or early autumn. They produce a larger harvest and bigger individual potatoes, ideal for roasting and baking, and can be stored for use in winter
When choosing, look in particular for varieties with an RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) â these performed well in trials, so should grow and crop reliably for you. See our list of AGM fruit and vegand our Recommended Varieties below. You can also see many crops, including potatoes, growing in the veg areas at all the RHS gardens, so do visit to see how theyâre grown, compare the varieties and pick up useful tips.
What and where to buy
Potatoes are grown from specially prepared âseed potatoesâ (small tubers). These are just like potatoes you buy from the supermarket, but theyâre certified virus-free, so should give you healthy, vigorous plants. You can buy seed potatoes in late winter and spring in garden centres and online. Mail-order suppliers offer the widest choice of varieties and most allow you to order in advance, as popular varieties may sell out. To grow a Christmas crop in a greenhouse, buy cold-stored tubers in late June or July.
Recommended Varieties
'Jazzy'
Second early â small oval tubers, but lots of them. Ready 14 weeks after planting. Good in containers.
The RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) helps gardeners choose the best plants for their garden.
Wild bees and other pollinators are in decline. The Plants for Pollinators initiative helps gardeners easily identify plants that encourage them back into the garden
'Kestrel'
Second early â attractive purple-splashed tubers with delicious flavour. Big crop, disease resistant.
The RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) helps gardeners choose the best plants for their garden.
Wild bees and other pollinators are in decline. The Plants for Pollinators initiative helps gardeners easily identify plants that encourage them back into the garden
'Lady Christl'
Second early â pale yellow skin, firm flesh and fantastic flavour. Good eelworm resistance.
The RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) helps gardeners choose the best plants for their garden.
Wild bees and other pollinators are in decline. The Plants for Pollinators initiative helps gardeners easily identify plants that encourage them back into the garden
Showing 3 out of 15 varieties
3
Planting
Potatoes are mainly planted in spring, over several weeks, according to the type of variety:
- First earlies â plant around late March
- Second earlies â plant in early to mid-April
- Maincrops â plant in mid- to late April
The timing also depends on where you are in the country â plant slightly later in colder regions and earlier in milder ones. To give your potatoes an early start, you can âchitâor sprout the tubers before planting (see below), so growth gets underway more quickly.
There are also a couple of other planting options, to extend the croppingseason:
- To grow an extra early crop âplant chitted seed potatoes of early varieties at the beginning of March, into large containers in a frost-free greenhouse. Keep them indoors in good light for a crop by about mid-May
- To grow a winter/Christmas crop â plant prepared (cold-stored) seed potatoes in July or early August, into a large containerin a greenhouse or bright frost-free location. Keeping them indoors also protects them from blight
Chitting potatoes
Related RHS Guides
Planting in the ground
To plant, dig a trench 15cm (6in) deep, place the seed potatoes along the base with the sprouts upwards. Cover with at least 2.5cm (1in) of soil,taking care not to damage the sprouts, and water well. Alternatively, you can dig individual holes for each seed potato.
- Earlies â plant 30cm (1ft) apart, in rows 60cm (2ft) apart
- Maincrops â plant 37cm (15in) apart, in rows 75cm (30in) apart
See our potato planting guideand potato success for more details.Take care to grow potatoes in a different location each year, to avoid any build-up of diseases and other problems in the soil â see our guide to crop rotation.
With no-dig gardening, you can shallow-plant the seed potatoes, then add a deep layer oforganic matter on top. The crop is then easy to harvest by simply pulling the potatoesout of the mulch.
Planting in containers
If you donât have space in the ground, you can grow potatoes in large containers, where theyâll produce a modest but valuable crop. Early varieties are the most suitable, as the plants are smaller and mature more quickly. Choose a container at least 30cm (12in) wide and deep, and half-fill with 15cm (6in) of peat-free multi-purpose compost. Plant one seed potato per 30cm (12in) of pot diameter, setting them just below the surface. Once shoots start to appear, add more compost gradually as they grow, until the container is full.
If you have a frost-free greenhouse or similar location to keep the container, you can grow a very early batch of new potatoes or a very late crop in winter.
Plant one seed potato in a 30cm pot, position it in full sun and keep it well watered
4
Plant Care
Section 4 of 7
Earthing up potatoes
Potato plants are traditionally âearthed upâ, which means mounding up soil around the stems as they grow. This protects the shoots from frost damage in late spring and ensures the developing potatoes arenât exposed to light, which turns them green and inedible. Itâs a simple process â once the shoots are about 23cm (9in) tall, draw soil up around them to form a ridge along the row, leaving just the top 10cm (4in) of the plants visible. As the stems grow taller, repeat the process several times, a few weeks apart. The final height of the ridge should be 20â30cm (8â12in). But if you are unable to earth up, or donât have time, youshould still get a good crop.
Follow a similar process for potatoes in containers. From half-full at planting time, gradually add more potting compost as the stems grow, until the surface ends up just below the pot rim.
Use a hoe to pile earth up around the potato plants along the row
Watering
To ensure a good crop, keep potato plants well watered in dry weather â particularly early on, when the tubers are starting to form. Potatoes in containers need regular and generous watering throughout the growing season, especially if kept in a greenhouse. Even outdoors, the dense foliage will prevent rainwater reaching the compost, so water even during wet weather to make sure you get a decent harvest.
Feeding
Maincrop potatoes benefit from a nitrogen-rich fertiliser around the time of the second earthing up.
Weeding
Weed regularly for the first month or two after planting, so the young plants donât have to compete for light, water and nutrients.See ourtips on controlling weeds. Once potato plants are growing strongly and have plenty of leaves, weeding isnât usually necessary as they will generally shade out any competition. Repeated earthing up also helps to deter weeds.
Protecting from frost
Frost can damage young potato plants, so if freezing temperatures are forecast after shoots have appeared, protect them with a clocheor some hessian or straw overnight, or cover with soil or garden compost. With plants in containers, keep them in a frost-free place such as a greenhouse until thereâs no longer any risk of frost outdoors.
5
Harvesting
Section 5 of 7
You can harvest from early summer to autumn, if you grow early and maincrop varieties
Early potatoes and maincrop potatoes mature at different times over the summer. Harvest times can also vary across the UK and from year to year, depending on the weather. But as a general guide:
- First early varieties should be ready to lift in June and July
- Second earlies in July and August
- Maincrop varieties from late August through to October
With earlies, wait until the flowers open or the buds drop. The tubers should be the size of hensâ eggs. With maincrops, start lifting them in late summer for immediate use. You can leave them in the ground until needed, and they will keep growing larger, but the longer theyâre in the soil, the more likely they are to get damaged by slugs.
Dig up potatoes carefully, inserting your fork at least 30cm (1ft) away from the base of the plant to avoid spearing the tubers. Discard any potatoes that are green, as theyâre potentially poisonous. If you only want a few potatoes at a time, try digging down carefully beside a plant with a trowel â you should be able to remove a few individual potatoes without disturbing the plantâs roots, so it can continue growing.
Potatoes grown in containers are really easy to harvest, without the risk of accidentally damaging them â gently tip out the contents and simply pick out your potatoes by hand.
Early potatoes are best used as soon as possible after harvesting. Maincrops can either be used fresh or stored for several months and eaten gradually when needed through the winter. If you want to store maincrop potatoes, delay harvesting until the leaves turn yellow, then cut off and remove all the top growth. Wait for 10 days, then dig up the tubers and leave them in the sun for a few hours to dry, then brush off the soil.
6
Storing
Section 6 of 7
7
Problems
Section 7 of 7
Potatoes are easy to grow and usually produce a large, reliable crop. However, they can be affected by several diseasesor be eaten by various soil-dwellingcreatures such as slugs, which particularly like to tunnel into maincrop tubers during damp autumn weather. Blight can be a wide-spread problem in some summers, depending on the weather, but you can still usually harvest and eat the crop if you act quickly, although the potatoes wonâtbe suitable for storing.
To avoid the build-up of problems in the soil, grow potatoes in a new position each year â see our guide to crop rotation.Some potato varieties are also less susceptible tocertain diseases.SeeCommon problemsbelow for more advice on tackling the main growing issues.