Kapiteyn - Maris Peer Seed Potato - Winter Variety

Kapiteyn - Maris Peer Seed Potato Winter Variety

With a subtle flavour, the winter variety of the Maris Peer potato is the perfect addition to your Christmas meal. With a light skin and a creamy flesh which doesn't disintegrate during cooking, they are an excellent choice for boiling, baking or using in salads.

This variety is great for growing in pots and containers, as they produce a lovely fragrant purple flower. Sowing in September or October will give plenty of time for the tubers to grow and provide a plentiful supply by December.

Key Information:

• Seven seed potatoes to sow in the autumn for a winter harvest
• This variety should be protected from frost

How to Grow:

• Potatoes can be planted in any type of soil, but not in a location where they have been grown in the previous two years. Prepare the soil well before planting, adding compost and a general fertiliser, before planting the potatoes approximately 30cm apart with their shoots facing upwards - this should be done in a narrow trench approximately 15cm deep.
• Cover the potatoes with excess soil - the potato rows should be approximately 60cm apart in a sunny area of your garden.
• When the stems reach approximately 22cm in height, remove any weeds around the plants and break up the soil between the rows. Loose soil should then be piled around the stems to make a flat top ridge, approximately 15cm in height.
• In dry weather, the plants should be watered liberally, especially once tubers have started to form.
• Flowers appearing on the plants is an excellent sign that harvest time has arrived - for larger tubers, the plants should be left for a further few weeks. Tubers which are ready to harvest will be the size of hens eggs - make sure to remove all tubers from the soil when harvesting to prevent pests and disease.
• If you'd prefer to grow your potatoes in containers, fill with 15cm of compost and plant 20cm apart. The seed potatoes should be covered with 10-15cm of compost and kept well watered, but not saturated. As the seed potatoes start to shoot, cover with a 10cm layer of compost, and repeat two to three more times before harvesting.

Useful Information: