Potato Growing Guide

Posted on January 13, 2025

Tips for maximising your potato crop

Potatoes are grown from seed potatoes – these are small, modified roots or tubers (miniature versions of what we cook) harvested from certified virus and disease-free mother plants and graded to size.

The green parts of potato plants are toxic and any part of the plant that gets light turns green.

The part we want to harvest is the tuber that forms on the below ground stems and roots of the plant.

If you are unsure which variety to start with, taster packs mean you can trial several varieties or mix up your varieties in a smaller area, they are also ideal for container culture or just having your first go at Potato growing.

Whether you plant (in a 4” deep trench in the garden and 15” apart) in a bucket with drainage holes in or a Potato growing bag, you need to cover the potatoes with 4” of compost or soil.  The potatoes sit with their eyes pointing up.  For containers and Potato growing bags, use organic vegetable compost.

is done to get tubers started while the ground is too cold, once the soil is reliably above 10°C they are good to go – chitting means you can crop early – good for first earlies and possibly second crop, but not on Maincrop.  Chits (small shoots about 1” long) arise from the eyes or buds on the surface of the tuber.

Growmore 7-7-7 is a great general garden feed, switching to Tomorite after 4 or 5 weeks.

When shoots are at about 6 to 8” or 20cm tall, add soil or compost to about 2” or 5cm from the top of the shoots.  Keep doing this as the shoots grow, up to about 12” or 30cm.               

This is not so important with First earlies but will increase your yield on Maincrop varieties.

Space 12” apart in the ground, plant mid March or even earlier.  These grow to maturity quickest. Harvest is June/July.  These will store in the ground for about 4 weeks after reaching maturity, so you don’t have to harvest all at once.  First earlies are best used fresh.

Like most plants, raised beds or above ground containers give an earlier crop (because the soil tends to be warmer and not so wet).  Similarly fleece, polythene cloches or cold frames for the first 6-8 weeks can also keep the worst of the weather off, warm the soil and help to advance a crop

Late March to mid-April, the same as First early, but they crop in July/August

Space at 15” apart in the ground in mid- to late April, August to October. Cutting the Haulm (top) of the plant 10 days before cropping helps them store better.

Here at Ruxley Manor we select the best winter cropping Potatoes for summer planting, and stock these from mid-July onwards.   

These should be in the ground by the end of September and are cropped from October right up until Christmas.  A ‘must do’ for your diary!

Seed Potatoes at Ruxley Manor

For a more detailed guide, we recommend visiting the Gardeners World website.  Click here for their guide.

Shop online or in-store!

Pop in to visit us in Sidcup, Kent, or have your order delivered. Most of our products are available for national delivery, so you can enjoy Ruxley Manor all over the UK.

Read More
Home Delivery

Ruxley Manor offers a friendly and professional home delivery service for our local deliveries in Kent and the surrounding areas. For UK orders further afield we use our trusted courier partners for delivery.

Read More
5 Year Hardy Plant Guarantee

As part of the GCA, our offering is simple. Buy any outdoor hardy plant from us and if, having followed the care instructions, the plant does not thrive you can return it with the original label and receipt for a credit note or exchange for a plant of equivalent value.

Read More
Highly Experienced Team

Ruxley Manor, situated on Maidstone Road in Sidcup, Kent, was founded in 1964, nearly 100 years on from Henry Evans founding H. Evans and Sons.

Read More