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Growing Potatoes

Potatoes

A lot of new vegetable growers seem to find potatoes awfully complex yet they are a simple vegetable to grow successfully and once you have tasted your own potatoes you will know why they are worth growing. The difference between home grown potatoes and supermarket potatoes is unbelievable.

Potatoes are very much a staple food, perhaps not so much as they were in the days before the British learned about rice and pasta but still important to our diet. They provide significant vitamin C and vitamin B3 (Niacin) as well as copper and phosphorus.

Surprisingly potatoes can help you lose weight if you're dieting. They do contain carbohydrates but not as much by far as white bread. Boiled potatoes, baked potatoes or mashed (but not with loads of butter) are filling without being fattening. Chips and roasties are, unfortunately, not going to help you lose weight.

Since you are not going to be eating your potatoes with rich sauces or dripping with butter if you are losing weight it becomes critical that they have real taste.

Before you start growing potatoes it is useful to choose the right variety for your needs. There are around 400 varieties of potatoes available to the gardener to grow and some are better than others for roasting, some for mashing, salads, boiling etc. There's a list of the main varieties broken down

When you're choosing what potatoes to grow you may find all those strange terms such as first early, second early and chitting confusing. Don't worry! They are all explained in the brief guide to growing potatoes.

Although some new growers think potatoes are a good crop for breaking new soil they are extremely productive and need, therefore, good levels of nutrition to crop well. This are discussed in the potato fertiliser programme

It isn't actually the growing of potatoes that is good for breaking new ground, it is the preparation of the ground, the fertilisation, cultivation and finally the harvesting that breaks virgin soil up and turns it into proper vegetable growing soil.

They can be stored from the harvest right through to the point where the next season's crop arrives and this is covered in harvesting and storing potatoes.

The worst problem that affects potatoes is, without doubt, the blight although some would argue that the slug is even more of a problem. The guide to potato blight should help you understand what it is and what you can do about it.