How to grow New potatoes in the UK
Digging for potatoes is like a treasure hunt. Grow them in a big bag if you're short of space.
- DifficultyEasy peasy
- WhereBeds or Pots
- Grows to60cm
- Spacing30cm
- Time to first pickabout 12 weeks
When to sow, plant and harvest new potatoes
| Sow outdoors | mid March to late April |
|---|---|
| Pick | early June to late July |
Dates are for central England. Sow about two weeks later in the north and Scotland, and up to two weeks earlier in the south and south west. Get the dates for your postcode.
Sowing it outdoors
- Dig a hole with a trowel, about as deep as your hand
- Put in one potato with the shoots pointing up
- Cover it with soil or compost
- Space the potatoes 30cm apart in the row, with rows 60cm apart
- In a bag: 3 potatoes on 15cm of compost, then cover with 10cm more
Top tips for growing new potatoes
- Buy 'first early' seed potatoes in February.
- Stand them in an egg box on a windowsill for a few weeks to grow little shoots ('chitting').
Looking after new potatoes
- Week 3: Earth up: pull soil or compost over the green shoots so just the tips show - it protects from frost
Soil and feeding
Rich, moist soil packed with goodness. These are hungry plants. Dig a hole (or make a mound) and fill it with manure or compost before planting, then feed every week or two once the fruit starts.
Pests and problems
- Slugs & snails: munch seedlings overnight, worst in wet weather
- Blight: not an animal - a disease that browns the leaves in warm, wet summers
- Earth up the shoots so slugs and frost can't get them
- In warm, wet summers watch for brown blotches (blight) - cut off the leaves and dig up the potatoes
Harvesting and eating new potatoes
When the plants have flowered, dig gently with a fork (or tip the bag out) and hunt for your potatoes!
How to eat them: Boil until soft, add butter and a pinch of salt. Best potatoes you'll ever eat.
Storing new potatoes
Keeps 1-2 weeks (new potatoes are best fresh).
- Brush off the soil, don't wash
- Keep in a paper or cloth bag somewhere cool and dark
- Light turns them green - never eat green bits
Boil for 5 minutes, cool, then freeze - roast them straight from frozen.
Good varieties of new potatoes
- Rocket: A first early - new potatoes in about 10 weeks.
- Charlotte: Waxy salad potatoes with a lovely flavour.
- Maris Piper: The chip shop potato - great for roasting and mash.
- Sarpo Mira: Shrugs off blight, the potato disease of wet summers.
Companion planting
Grows well with
- Broad beans: beans add goodness to the soil for the potatoes
- French marigolds: said to keep pests away from the roots
Keep away from
- Cherry tomatoes: they catch the same disease (blight) and pass it between them
- Big tomatoes: they catch the same disease (blight) and pass it between them
- Cucumbers: potatoes can make cucumbers more likely to get disease
- Sunflowers: sunflowers are said to stunt potatoes - keep them apart
Saving your own new potatoes seed
.
- It's best to buy fresh, certified ones each year - saved ones can carry diseases that build up in the soil.
Where to buy new potatoes seeds
Thompson & Morgan · Suttons · Amazon
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New potatoes questions
When should I sow new potatoes in the UK?
In the UK, sow new potatoes outdoors from mid March to late April. These dates suit central England; sow about two weeks later in the north and Scotland and up to two weeks earlier in the mild south and south west.
When can I pick new potatoes?
New potatoes is ready from early June to late July. When the plants have flowered, dig gently with a fork (or tip the bag out) and hunt for your potatoes!
How long do new potatoes take to grow?
Roughly 12 weeks from sowing or planting until the first harvest.
Are new potatoes easy to grow?
New potatoes are rated 'easy peasy' for beginners, and can be grown in the ground or a raised bed or in pots and containers.
Plan your own garden: it tells you what to do and when, for your postcode.
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