Unearthed – a love of potatoes

Charlotte potatoes reveal themselves

Many people have turned to a spot of gardening during the lockdown and I must admit that I just happened to have ordered some patio tubs and a potato growing kit long before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. As a child I had helped grow potatoes in the garden but never in containers. Here are some images of the results of my efforts…

I set the seed potatoes to chit on my window ledge on February 1. They were bought from the You Garden (website here) and I have to say I have been very pleased with everything I have bought from this company in the last six months.

Chitting seed potatoes on February 15.

The seed potatoes were in three varieties – Swift, Charlotte and Desiree.

Chitting Swift potatoes, March 28

Flourishing Swift plant in the yard on May 2

I planted out the Swift potatoes on April 4 but annoyingly I didn’t take pictures when I harvested them on June 21. The size of the harvest was not great and the potatoes were wet and covered in tiny white discs as we had suffered so much heavy rain in the previous weeks. There were also some big centipedes.

Had the weather not been so bad I might have left the potatoes longer but I think they would have rotted as one or two had started to show scabbiness. For all that, after leaving them in the dark for a week we managed to make a couple of meals for two out of the potatoes. Swift is not a variety I had heard of, but obviously quick-growing and early.

A small Swift potato on a big dinner plate

I am very familiar with Charlotte salad potatoes from supermarket shelves and I was not disappointed by these.

Chitting Charlotte potatoes, March 28

Charlotte and Desiree plants on July 11

Charlotte flower, July 11

I had been worried about both Charlotte and Desiree potato plants as we had very windy weather at one stage and some of the stems had been battered down, if not broken, but they seemed to survive this and yet more rain.

Charlotte removed from pot July 11

Charlotte – buried treasure – on July 11

An excellent harvest

As you can see, the Charlottes were in lovely condition and gave a great yield. I knew they would as I had stuck my finger in the top of the pot occasionally and could feel something down there…

Chitting Desiree potatoes, March 28

Desiree on July 18

I had my worries about the Desiree as I never had been able to feel anything below the surface with my finger. However, I harvested them a week after the Charlottes

Desiree revealed on July 18

Desiree plus woodlouse

A small but healthy harvest

Probably enough for two people for two or three meals

So, all in all, I know what I am doing with this process now – chitting on the window ledge until there is good growth, putting them in tubs covered with about three inches of compost mixed with potato fertiliser, keeping them well watered and building up the compost as the greenery grows, then harvesting after 10 to 12 weeks.

The Swift did not seem to have any flowers at all. The others did and I more or less waited until they had died off and the stems started to go yellow. But I could have waited longer. I was impatient and anxious because of all the horrible wet weather. There were some tiny would-be potatoes still attached and I suppose these would have grown with time.

Anyway, I will try it again next year and recommend it to anyone. It’s fun!