Potatoes like a deep rich soil, plant seedling potatoes in a trench and as they grow pile the earth up around them. This stops the potatoes from being exposed to light and going green. (Green potatoes can upset the stomach, so avoid them) This process also helps produce more potatoes as they tend to form on roots near the surface, as you pile up the soil, new roots, new potatoes, more potatoes.... Try a good organic fertilizer, blood and bone, seaweed extract, fish or liquid comfrey.

Keep the water up and away you go. Potatoes can also be grown in stacks of old care tyres, plant the seed potatoes at the bottom, let them grow to about 50cm, place a tyre over the top and add 8cm of soil, let hem grow a little more, add some more soil, add another tyre and so on, in the end a stack of potatoes.

Once the lower leaves start to die back its time to harvest the potatoes. You can harvest all of them at once or from the top down a tyre at a time. This process can aslo work with other tube like structures. If you plan to store your potatoes, cut off the foliage and let the potatoes rest in the ground for 3-4 weeks to allow the skin to 'set', they keep longer this way. Store in a dark, cool, well ventilated spot.


Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes require a little more warmth than other potatoes and in all but the mildest areas of the UK are best grown in a poly tunnel or glasshouse.

Sweet potato tubers can be purchased in early spring and started in pots ready to be planted out once the danger of frost is over. For more notes on growing sweet potatoes visit the RHS web site

Always buy seed potatoes as Certified Grade Seed Potatoes from reputable suppliers. Yes it is possible to buy some from a specialist green grocer and keep them for seed, or use leftover potato peelings. However, you do run the risk of introducing diseases if you use leftovers or buy from supermarkets or green grocers. So we recommend that you always buy certified seed potatoes.