Why Grow Your Own Seed Potatoes
There’s nothing quite like the taste of freshly dug potatoes from your own garden. Growing your own is not only cost-effective but also ensures you’re enjoying the freshest produce possible. It also gives you the power of choice, as supermarkets these days only tend to carry a very small number of different varieties of potatoes. With a wide range of varieties to choose from, you can grow the perfect potatoes for mashing, roasting, or boiling. Plus, potatoes are easy to grow, even in small spaces or containers, making them ideal for gardeners of all levels!
“Seed” Potatoes
In case you aren’t too familiar with seed potatoes, the first thing to note is that technically they are not seeds, it is just in the name. They are small potatoes/tubers that range from about 35mm to 60mm in diameter. These potatoes have little dents in them called “eyes”, and out of these eyes come sprouts, as can be seen in the picture below.
The sprouts that grow from the eyes of the seed potato develop into the above-ground portion of the plant, which includes the stems, leaves, and flowers. The new potatoes, on the other hand, develop underground from the stolons of the plant.
As the potatoes are grown from a “seed potato” and not a “true seed”, the new plants and potatoes have the same genes as the seed potato, and are essentially a clone of the original.
Potato plants flower and produce small fruits that have true seeds in them. However, the true seeds that any given potato variety produces would produce diverse characteristics if saved and planted. The resulting plant may not resemble the plant the seeds were saved from at all!
Seed Potato Types
There are 3 types of seed potatoes, First Earlies, Second Earlies and Main Crop varieties. These terms refer to how long the plants take to mature from planting to harvesting.
First Earlies (in general) can be planted from February to April depending on the weather in your area. If the growing conditions are favourable, they can be ready to harvest in 10 to 12 weeks.
Second Earlies can also be planted from February to April depending on the weather in your area. If the growing conditions are favourable, they can be ready to harvest in 13 to 15 weeks.
Main Crop Varieties should be planted a bit later around the end of April. They take longer to mature. If the growing conditions are favourable, they can be ready to harvest in 20 weeks. They are the best varieties for storing and eating at a later date.
Seed Potato Varieties
There is an abundance of different potato varieties, and if you have been growing for years, I’m sure you have your favourites! The best selling variety we stock is Maris Piper seed potatoes.
Maris Piper is the potato of choice for making chips in most of the chippers around Ireland! I guess everyone wanted to attempt to grow and make their own “chipper chips”!.
The full list of varieties available can be found here. Hopefully you might have found this helpful.
