Harvest container-grown potatoes just in time for Christmas Day to enjoy that delicious home-grown flavour even in the depths of winter.
Growing your own Christmas dinner has to be the ultimate achievement for ambitious veg gardeners, with a good yield of spuds top of the list. If you haven't planted Christmas spuds this year, make a note to treat yourself next year. You'll find special potato growing barrels and sacks in our garden centre here in , as well as 'second cropping' seed potatoes specially raised for Christmas growing from September onwards. Good festive season varieties include 'Carlingford' or 'Vivaldi'.
Keep them in a frost-free greenhouse, water well and feed weekly with a specially-formulated potato feed to encourage plenty of tubers. As Christmas Day approaches test your crop by making a hole in the side of the bag and gently burrowing inside: if you feel a tuber the size of a golfball, they're almost ready.
To harvest, simply tip everything out of the container on Christmas morning and pick out the spuds. You can re-plant the potato plant to provide a second, smaller crop in about six weeks' time. When it's finally exhausted, tip out the spent compost onto your compost heap or re-use it on your borders.
