You might think it’s too early to start planning for Christmas, but if you fancy the delicious taste of freshly dug new potatoes with your Christmas lunch, then July through to September is the time to act. Growing your own new potatoes is hugely rewarding, cost effective and fun. Simply follow our top tips for a delicious crop of new potatoes in time for the festive season.
Getting started
- Buy premium quality tubers to ensure a good crop of healthy and delicious new potatoes. We work with the best and most trusted growers, so you have peace of mind you are getting quality seed potatoes. Explore seed potatoes.
- Anyone can grow their own potatoes for Christmas. These small tubers can be planted in the ground or in grow bags and containers that fit in a range of small outside spaces. As a guide, a 20-litre pot with good drainage is the perfect size to grow three seed potatoes. Explore our growing accessories.
- Use a good quality, organic multipurpose compost that is nutrient-rich and free draining to ensure the healthy and robust growth of your potatoes. If you are planting your seed potatoes directly in the ground, consider adding manure to improve the quality of your soil.
1. Planting up
Planting seed potatoes is quick and easy. First, find a sunny spot, that is ideally sheltered from the worst of the winter weather.
If you are planting your seed potatoes in a container, line it with roughly four inches of compost and position the seed potatoes approximately 25cm apart. Cover them with another 10-15cm deep layer of compost and water them in. If you are planting directly in the ground, simply dig shallow trenches or small holes approximately 10-15cm deep and position your seed potatoes roughly 25cm apart before covering with soil.
Tip: Allow approximately 12 weeks for your summer planted seed potatoes to grow. If they are ready before your festive feast, you can leave them in the ground for up to one month where they will retain their texture and taste.
2. Care and maintenance
Throughout the growing season, keep the tubers moist but not waterlogged as they will rot if they are left sitting in water. Container planted seed potatoes will dry out faster than those planted in the ground, so it is worth regularly checking the soil, particularly during hot weather.
To increase crop yield and prevent the tubers being exposed to sunlight (which turns them green and poisonous), when the plant stem exceeds four inches of growth start a process called ‘Earthing Up’. To ‘Earth Up’ your tubers simply mound soil up around the stems, leaving 10cm exposed. Do this roughly every two or three weeks during the growing season.
If you expect the weather to turn cold and frosty, give your potatoes additional protection by adding fleece or straw, or move container planted tubers to a frost-free location such as a garage, greenhouse or shed.
For pot planted seed potatoes, once your compost reaches approximately two inches from the top of the pot, start to introduce a liquid feed when watering. We recommend Westland Boost or an organic seaweed feed to increase crop yield. Explore our range of Fruit and Vegetable Feeds.
3. Harvesting your potatoes
Your potatoes are ready to harvest when the plants turn brown and the foliage has died back. If possible, wait for a dry day and carefully pull them up from the ground with a fork to loosen the soil. If grown in a potato grow bag empty them into a larger container, such as a wheelbarrow, so you can easily pull up the potatoes.
If your potatoes are ready before your festive feast, the good news is you can leave them in the ground or a container for up to one month, while continuing to protect them from frost and excess water.
FAQs: To chit or not to chit
What is Chitting? Chitting is a process that encourages seed potatoes to sprout before planting. The process is helpful to increase crop yields if you are planting seed potatoes when the ground is still cool.
Do I need to Chit Christmas harvest potatoes? As the ground is warm between July and September, it isn’t essential to chit your summer planted, Christmas harvest, seed potatoes.
How do I chit potato tubers? Place the tubers in a light, cool and frost-free area in a suitable container, such as an egg box – this allows airflow and space around the tubers. Leave the tubers for a few weeks, until the green-purple shoots reach 1.5-2.5cm long.
Note: If the shoots are white, then they need more sunlight.
