About Seed Potatoes
The good news is growing potatoes is pretty easy. Plant your seed potatoes in a fertile spot in March and harvest delicious homegrown potatoes form 90 to 160 days later. Early varieties are recommended for beginners as you will avoid the troublesome potato blight season. We stock an extensive range of first earlies, second earlies, maincrop, and late maincrop seed potatoes. If you need growing information you can find our 'How to grow potatoes' article in our blog.
First Early Seed Potatoes
First early seed potatoes are the first kind to reach maturity taking about 10 weeks from planting. These are perfect if you want to grow new potatoes, they will also be ready for harvest before the worst of the blight kicks in. They might experience a little bit but only after they have grown sufficiently, just remove affected stems and leaves. Great for the beginner gardener.
Varieties include: Sharpes Express, Casablanca, Arran Pilot, Duke of York, Red Duke Of York, Homeguard, Colleen, and Lady Christl.
Second Early
Second earlies are ready for harvest slightly later than first earlies (about 2 weeks later). Alot of second earlies have firmer flesh and are ideal for use as salad potatoes. All earlies tend to have a smaller yield than maincrop potatoes but they also require less space and are easier to grow, escaping much of the diseases that commonly affect later spuds.
Varieties include: Charlotte, Nicola, Orla, Vivaldi, Maris Peer, and Catriona.
Maincrop
Again maincrop are ready to take out of the ground later than second earlies, they can then be used straight out of the ground as new potatoes. Maincrop potatoes are the ideal potato for storage and a good harvest can be stored and used over the winter months. Great for boiling, roasting, or making chips.
Varieties include: King Edward, Salad Blue, Cara, Kerr Pink. Setanta, Sarpo Mira, Sarpo Axona, Pink Fir Apple, Purple Majesty, Golden Wonder, Mozart, Mayan Gold, and Isle of Jura.
Late Maincrop
Maincrop potatoes are very high yielding and have excellent storage properties, they are however susceptible to blight if not managed properly. They take a bit longer to mature than earlier varieties but the yield will see you through the winter months.
Blight Resistance
If you're new to growing potatoes we recommend trying a first early variety, they have been specially selected for ease of growing in our climate. Orla has excellent blight resistance if you're trying a second early, Setanta, Sarpo Mira, and Sapro Axona for maincrop.