Early potatoes
Product information
Verwacht: half februari
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Description
Note: limited stock and gone = gone.
Specifications
In the app
Sowing: 1 February - 15 May
Level 1
pre-sprouting
Level 2
potatoes are planted
Level 3
first plants
Level 4
little plants
Level 5
several plants
Level 6
harvest
- Currently only shipping to the Netherlands and Belgium
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- Sent by PostNL or Transmission
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- The app helps you with almost everything you do in your vegetable garden: sowing, tending, and harvesting.
- If something goes wrong, the app tells you what steps to take.
- If that doesn’t work, you can ask us for advice.
- If that still doesn’t help, we’ll look for other solutions together. Until we get it right.
More about about our Early Potatoes
- Species name: Annabel
- Family: nightshade
- Plants per square patch: 2
- Height: 40 to 60 cm
- Pre-sprouting: Februari to mid-March
- Planting: from mid-March to mid-May
- Germination time: between 7 - 21°C in 21 - 35 days
- Time to harvest: after 12 - 15 weeks
- Sunlight: both sunny and half-shade
On average, one patch of potatoes yields 1.25 kg of potatoes. That is 4x as much as a potato farmer, as he harvests about 3.5 kg per m2 🙂
Please note that the seed potatoes are fresh, and we cannot store them for very long. Therefore, we sell them only temporarily and gone=gone. During this period, we also sell complete potato packages like this one:
Wat is er bijzonder aan deze aardappels?
De meeste aardappels poot je in april en mei en oogst je vanaf juli. Vroege aardappels - zoals deze - kun je al in februari voorkiemen, vanaf half maart in de mix stoppen, en al in juni oogsten. Bovendien is de kans dat vroege aardappels de gevreesde aardappelziekte krijgen veel kleiner dan bij de latere soorten 🙂
Daarnaast zijn deze aardappels vastkokend, iets wat je zelden ziet bij vroege soorten.
In de periode dat we ze leveren zijn er ook complete aardappelpakketten. Je vindt ze bij de Acties in de de shop, zoals bijvoorbeeld deze:
What do you need to grow potatoes yourself?
- a container for pre-sprouting, or an empty egg box
- a 30 x 30 cm square with a light, nutritious soil mix
- early seed potatoes
- a spot with at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight per day
In this perfect soil mix, growing potatoes is really easy. If you grow them in poor-quality potting soil, it becomes much harder and the results will disappoint. So do not skimp on the basics: go for the best.
That is why I like using an MM-Mini or MM-Airbak for potatoes. You can also grow them in your garden boxes, but then you need to remember to skip those squares in the coming years.
The good news: early potatoes are much less likely to get this disease than later varieties.
How to plant and grow early potatoes?
Each vegetable goes through several stages - we call them levels. The app tells you exactly what to do in each level and regularly prompts you to check if your plants are ready to move on to the next level.
You don't need to know how to successfully grow potatoes in advance. But if you're interested in reading more, I'll now explain what the whole process will look like.
That's why we sprout them indoors until mid-March. This way, they already have sprouts, the plants emerge earlier, and you can harvest earlier as well. If you receive the potatoes after March 15th, you can skip the sprouting process and start directly with level 2.
Level 1: Pre-sprouting early potatoes
Level 1: Vroege aardappels voorkiemen
You can already see several eyes on the potatoes: some tiny, some a bit larger. Shoots will grow from these points. Place the potatoes upright in the tray or egg box, with the eyes facing up.
Therefore, place the container in a bright but cool place. Such as on a windowsill in the pantry or in an unheated bedroom.
You don't need to do anything else now, not even water them.
Level 2: Planting early potatoes
Level 2: Vroege aardappels poten
Loosen the mix in a compartment in the bed and plant as follows:
- Make 2 deep holes in the compartment - preferably to the bottom
- Place 1 seed potato in each hole (carefully so as not to break any sprouts)
- Then close the holes again and give some water
Depending on the weather, you will see something green sprouting after about 4 weeks.
Level 3: The first plants
Level 3: De eerste plantjes
A potato often produces multiple sprouts. They won't all come up at once, but more will appear in the coming weeks.
Level 4 and 5: Take care of your plants
Level 4 en 5: Verzorg je planten
At this stage, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of MM plant food around the base of the plants. Rake it lightly into the top of the mix and water afterwards.
Level 6: The plants are getting yellow leaves.
Level 6: De planten krijgen gelig blad
Because all the energy is now going to the potatoes in the mix, the leaves of the plants are becoming uglier: they turn yellow and eventually die off.
For potatoes, this is a good sign, because it means that the harvest is approaching.
This disease - or phytophthora infestans - is a harmful fungal disease that can spread quickly in humid weather. The disease mainly affects potatoes, but tomatoes are also susceptible to it.
You can recognize the disease by the brown and black spots on the leaves and stems. Once a potato plant is affected, the fungus can multiply rapidly and the plants will die. The potatoes themselves will also be affected and develop brown spots.
Therefore, remove the affected plants from your bed as soon as you see the first signs. Dispose of the foliage immediately, far away from your vegetable garden and especially not in the compost heap.
Then, immediately dig up all the potatoes in your bed and check if you see any brown spots on them. If you catch it early enough, they are usually not affected and can be eaten without any problems. However, discard the potatoes with spots on them. They won't make you sick, but they won't taste good anymore.
Afterwards, carefully clean the mix. Remove all plant debris and also check if any small potatoes have been left behind.
Level 7: Harvesting the potatoes
Level 7: Oogsten van de aardappels
Harvesting potatoes is always a surprise. You do not know how many potatoes have grown, how big they are, or where they are. It is like rummaging in a lucky dip: great fun.
To find them, search through the whole square of mix. It is easiest when the mix is a little dry and loose.
Be careful not to damage the potatoes while harvesting, because damaged potatoes cannot be stored. That is why I simply harvest them with my hands.
Harvesting from an MM-Mini is even easier: lay down a cloth or bin bag, tip the contents of the Mini onto it, and pick out the potatoes.
After harvesting, remove all plant remains, roots, and even the last tiny potatoes from the mix. Once you have done that, the square is ready for another crop.
Note: because of potato blight, you should never grow potatoes in the same mix two years in a row. To play it safe, skip three years.
What do you use early potatoes for?
Because they stay firm when cooked, they are ideal for salads, frying, or the air fryer.
They are at their best when freshly harvested. If you want to store them, let them dry well first and keep them somewhere cool and dark.
Because low-carb diets have become popular, potatoes sometimes get a bad reputation. And yes: buttery mash, crisps, chips, and potatoes with lots of gravy are not ideal if you eat them every day.
But potatoes also contain vitamin C and vitamin B6, plus smaller amounts of other B vitamins. They contain potassium, calcium, manganese, and phosphorus, as well as a good amount of antioxidants. The starch in potatoes is also resistant starch, which is digested in the large intestine. Various studies suggest this can help with blood sugar levels, digestion, nutrient absorption, and feeling full.
In short: potatoes are a fine addition to your diet, as long as you eat them in moderation. Preferably not every day, as fresh as possible, and prepared by you without all those fatty additions.
And one more thing: most of the fibre and vitamins are in the skin. So use varieties with a thin skin that you can simply cook or bake with the skin on, like ours.
Dus: wat let je om zelf vroege aardappels te poten?