Planting Potato Seed
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When and How To Plant Potato Seed
Potatoes are grown from 'seed' potatoes which grow better if they are allowed  to 'sprout' before planting. First purchase the seed potatoes in late January. These are available from seed catalogues or your local garden centre. Look for seed potato which is certified as free from disease and select healthy looking examples about the size of an egg. 

In mid February, place the seeds in boxes (for small amounts, cardboard egg boxes are ideal) in a light airy position at a temperature of roughly 10�C / 50�F. See right. 

The potato seed should be positioned so the the sprouts are uppermost and the 'stalk' end (where they were severed form the parent plant) is at the bottom. Sometimes this is a bit difficult to judge, but if you get it wrong, and the potatoes sprout from the bottom end, simply rub off the sprouts and turn the potato to the correct position. The picture below shows the stalk end of a potato which should be at the bottom when placed in the egg boxes.

As the potato seed produce sprouts, remove all but the topmost four to ensure that they receive all the goodness of the seed potato. The ideal sprout length at planting time is 2.5cm / 1in although this is not critical. What is critical, is that the sprouts are green and not white coloured. White sprouts are caused by not enough light. Click the picture to enlarge.

If the sprouts appear too early for planting the potatoes outside, simply rub them off cleanly and they will re-sprout in a couple of weeks time. Research has shown that the sprouts can be removed five times without any ill effect on the sprouts which will replace them.

Mid March is the ideal time to plant the sprouted potatoes in the open ground. Plant 'earlies' about 30cm / 12in apart from each other, in rows which are 60cm /  2ft apart. Plant maincrop potatoes about 35cm / 15in apart, in rows which are 75cm / 2ft 6in apart. Where you are planting more than one row, the rows should (ideally) run from North to South to allow each plant its full share of sun.

Dig a trench about 10cm / 4in deep, placing the potatoes in it with the sprouts pointing upwards. Hand fill the trench over the potatoes trying to avoid damaging any sprouts. Scatter bonemeal or similar long lasting fertiliser over the top soil and rake it in.

How to Grow Potatoes For Christmas Eating
In many areas it's quite possible to grow your own potatoes for eating in October through to Christmas. Potato plants produce good sized tubers in 65 to 100 days depending on variety. Click here for a separate page on how to plant potatoes in August.

Caring for Your Potatoes
Frost damage is the first concern in the early stages. If shoots emerge above the soil level and frost threatens, draw a little soil from the bed edges over them. 

After the potatoes plants have grown to about 20cm / 8in pull up the soil in between the rows around the plants leaving a few centimetres still showing. Repeat the exercise in two to three weeks time. The diagram to the right shows the ideal end result (click here to obtain an enlarged picture).  

During the growing season, ensure that weeds are removed and apply some long lasting fertiliser again around mid-August. A month or so after planting, the dense foliage of the plant should then block out sufficient light to deter all but the most vigorous weeds. 

As the potato plant grows, do not remove or 'stop' the foliage, it is supplying food to the tubers. However, remove any flower heads or buds which appear because these will produce potato seeds which will divert energy from the potato tubers.

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