Which Potato Should I grow?

The most common way of choosing a potato is by crop type – the maturity. But what does early or main crop mean? Quite simply it is the length of time taken for the plant to mature and give a good harvest. If you planted a tuber of each cropping type on the same day, the earlies would be ready first. Early potatoes are what we think of when new potatoes are mentioned – harvest cooked and eaten within a few hours for that magical new potato taste. New potatoes are often quite expensive in shops and so many gardeners like to grow these. They take 10-12 weeks to mature and are usually harvested before blight sets in. These potatoes do not store for too long. Can be planted up until the end of June for harvesting till the end of October.

Second Earlies take slightly longer at around 14-16 weeks to mature, Early Main Crop and Main Crop (sometimes lumped together) take around 15 – 22 week respectively to mature and these varieties are the ones that will store for much longer. Main crops can be planted till around end of May for harvesting till the end of October. There is so much variation in the weather throughout the UK it is hard to give definitive dates as to when to plant.

You need to be aware of the last (average) frost dates where you are as the young plant is susceptible to frost. The traditional date for planting was Easter Sunday but I suspect this is due to the first bank holiday of the year and people wanting to get out and about. You most certainly are not too late if you have only thought about growing your own potatoes in April and even into June – earlies would be harvested in August if planted in May.

There is obviously some overlap in these broad definitions and other factors such as chitting, soil, weather, location in the garden as well as personal preference to be taken into account. Most people will either stagger planting or plant different crop types to ensure a long supply of homegrown potatoes.

Recently a 5th crop type has been talked about – the Late Season for Christmas Market. These potatoes can be any crop type and are grown accordingly. We have an information page about growing late season potatoes and these are only available from late May.