Should I grow first early, second early or maincrop potatoes?

The three names describe how long a variety takes from planting to lifting, and everything else follows from that. It is not a quality ranking. A first early is not a lesser potato; it is a potato bred to be dug young and eaten fresh, and it dodges the disease that wipes out maincrops in a wet British August.

Step by step

1. Start from how much ground you have.A bed that has to grow several crops in a year cannot afford to have maincrop potatoes sitting in it from April to September. Earlies clear by midsummer and leave the bed free for a second crop.
2. Decide whether you want new potatoes or storing potatoes.First and second earlies give waxy new potatoes eaten within days. Maincrop gives the floury, larger tubers that store for months and do the roasting, mashing and chipping.
3. Factor in blight honestly.Blight typically arrives in warm humid weather from midsummer onwards. First earlies are usually lifted before it becomes a problem. Maincrop is in the ground right through it, which is why maincrop is the group most often lost.
4. Plant when the soil is workable and warming, not on a date.First earlies go in first, second earlies a couple of weeks later, maincrop last. In the south that starts in March; in the north and on cold clay it can be a month later. Cold wet soil rots seed tubers.
5. Set the spacing by group.Earlies go closer — roughly 30cm apart in rows 45–60cm apart. Maincrop needs more room to build its bigger crop, roughly 38–40cm apart in rows 70–75cm apart.
6. Judge harvest by the plant, not the calendar.Earlies are ready around the time the flowers open — scrape soil away and check the size. Maincrop is left until the haulm yellows and dies back, then cut down and left about two weeks so the skins set for storage.
7. Choose maincrop varieties for blight tolerance if you grow them.Some maincrop varieties carry meaningful foliage and tuber blight resistance and will still be standing when others have gone. Seed catalogues rate this — it is the single most useful thing on the description.

Tips

• Certified seed potatoes matter more than the group. Supermarket potatoes may be sprout-suppressed and can carry disease into your soil.
• If you have never grown potatoes, grow a first early. It is the crop with the highest chance of success and the shortest wait.
• Potatoes are a good first crop on rough ground — the planting, earthing up and lifting break the surface up well — but they do not 'clean' soil of weeds by themselves.
• Buy seed in late winter while the choice is good, and chit them while you wait rather than leaving them in a warm dark bag to sprout white and weak.

Common mistakes

• Growing maincrop in a small garden — It occupies the most productive months of the bed, for the crop you can buy most cheaply, and it is the crop most likely to be destroyed by blight.
• Planting into cold wet soil to get ahead — Seed tubers rot rather than sprout below about 7°C, and frosted emerging foliage is set back weeks. Two weeks of patience usually beats two weeks of earliness.
• Lifting maincrop the day the haulm is cut — The skins have not set, so they scuff during lifting and the tubers rot in store. Wait about a fortnight after cutting the tops.

Alternatives

• First earlies only: The pragmatic choice for a small garden. Fast, near-certain crop, out of the ground before blight, and the bed is free by July for beans, brassicas or salad.
• Second earlies: A middle path — larger tubers than first earlies, lifted in mid summer, and some varieties store reasonably. Useful if you want size without full blight exposure.
• Maincrop: The only route to a real store of potatoes. Needs space, a long season and blight tolerance. Worth it on an allotment, rarely worth it in a 2m bed.
• Salad varieties: Usually second early or early maincrop types grown specifically for firm waxy flesh. Grown like the group they belong to, but lifted young.
• Christmas potatoes: A first early planted in high summer in a container and protected from frost, lifted in December. A novelty rather than a staple, but it works.

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