A mixture of seed potato varieties

An allotment or vegetable patch would simply not be complete without a run of potatoes. With so many seed potato varieties to choose from, it’s a good idea to do a little research to find the best suited for your garden.

Seed Potato Varieties with high disease & pest resistance

Camelot

Creamy white oval tubers with shallow pinkish-red eyes and white flesh. Camelot is resistant to both golden eelworm and scab.

Cara

Tubers with pinkish-red eyes that are round/oval in shape and have soft, moist flesh. Particularly good baker. Resists drought. Disease resistance is high, including resistance to golden eelworm and blight. The allocation favourite. Bakery/general purpose.

Casablanca

Producing a delicious crop of smooth tubers ideal for boiling, with larger tubers making excellent chips. It has good resistance to common scab, blackleg, and golden eelworm.

Juliette

Maincrop, but can also be lifted as a Second Early. A bumper crop of long oval yellow skinned and fleshed waxy tubers with a mouthwatering flavour that can be served hot or cold. Resistance to Common and Netted Scab, as well as Golden Eelworm.

Kestrel

Tubers with a smooth skin and violet eyes. The gardeners’ favourite comes in second early. Slug resistance is good. Resistance to golden eelworm and some white eelworm.

Kifli

Sarpo Kifli potatoes have a truly exceptional flavour when freshly harvested and cooked in their skins. Kifli is best planted early because it can be a slow starter. It has good Sarpo resistance to drought and blight, as well as high resistance to virus Yo. Kifli is an early maincrop variety with elongated white-skinned tubers and a fantastic ‘new potato’ flavour. It can be harvested over a long period of time, and the larger and more mature tubers will still have excellent flavour.

Lady Balfour

Named after the founder of the Soil Association. Tubers with pink splashes and firm, moist creamy flesh. Blight resistance is impressive, as is eelworm resistance. Massive yields, even in poor soils. It keeps well. Perfect for organic gardeners.

Maris Piper

All-arounder with versatility. Cooking rarely discolours the dry, floury, creamy-white flesh with good flavour. The best chipping variety available. Resistant to golden eelworm.

Maxine

Large, smooth, pale red-skinned tubers with white waxy flesh that holds its shape when cooked. Resistant to golden eelworm and some white eelworm.

Nadine

Skin that is exceptionally smooth, with shallow eyes. Cream flesh is firm, moist, and waxy, and it does not discolour when cooked. Double eelworm resistance and high tolerance to common scab.

Orla

Grow your own new potatoes for the fall and Christmas season. Outstanding resistance to foliage and tuber blight. Round/oval tubers with cream skin and pale yellow flesh.

Pentland Dell

Tubers are long, oval white tubers with creamy-white flesh. Versatile but especially good chipper for long or large chips. It is slug resistant and drought tolerant.

Pentland Javelin

A lovely new potato with white waxy flesh. Perfect for boiling and salads. Excellent overall disease resistance, particularly against golden eelworm.

Red Cara

The red-skinned, red-eyed, cream-fleshed tubers have all of Cara’s pest and disease resistances as well as a massive yield potential. The plant habit of Red Cara is vigorous.

Sante

This potato is probably the most pest and disease resistant, and it grows well in all soils. Eelworm resistance on two levels. There are a lot of uniform tubers with dry pale yellow flesh.

Valor

A round or oval variety with white skin and cream flesh. It is resistant to both eelworm and blight, which is a big plus for gardeners. Outstanding yields. Flowers in purple. Uses: All-purpose.

Easy to grow seed potato varieties

Vivaldi

The best in terms of flavour, mouthwatering and creamy whether boiled, baked, mashed, or roasted. As a Second Early/Early Maincrop, it is extremely versatile and produces high yields of ‘baby potatoes’ as well as larger tubers. Oval, with yellow skin and pale yellow flesh. Resistance to common scab. It is simple to grow. Excellent in containers; if garden space is limited, use our increasingly popular growing bags, which are ideal for a sunny balcony or even a backyard for city dwellers.

Accord

Eelworm resistance, disease resistance Container-friendly and easy to grow.

Lady Christl

Because it produced a large number of very early, firm, oval, smooth, pale yellow-skinned tubers, it quickly became a customer favourite. Cooking keeps the creamy flesh firm. As a first early, it bulks up quickly or leaves as a second early. Excellent disease resistance, including resistance to golden eelworm. The quickest to produce ‘baby new potatoes’ and the easiest to grow. Excellent in containers; if garden space is limited, use our increasingly popular growing bags, which are ideal for a sunny balcony or even a backyard for city dwellers.

Rocket

A very early bulking and heavy cropping variety for your season’s first crop. Tubers with almost round white skin and flesh. Good overall disease resistance, including resistance to golden eelworm. The quickest to produce ‘baby new potatoes’ and the easiest to grow. Excellent in containers; if garden space is limited, use our increasingly popular growing bags, which are ideal for a sunny balcony or even a backyard for city dwellers.

Swift

Ideal for use in containers. Among the quickest maturing varieties, with larger tubers than ‘Rocket.’ Its short bushy habit makes it ideal for container growing. A bumper crop of round, smooth, white-fleshed tubers. Resistance to double eelworm in part. The quickest to produce ‘baby new potatoes’ and the easiest to grow. Excellent in containers; if garden space is limited, use our increasingly popular growing bags, which are ideal for a sunny balcony or even a backyard for city dwellers.

Unusual seed potato varieties

Anya

It has a nutty flavour, creamy flesh, and smoother tubers than Pink Fir.

Congo

Very dark blue/purple skin with blue flesh that darkens with maturity. Beautiful blue crisps and chips, as well as larger tubers for roasting.

Mayan Gold

Exclusive Greenvale AP and SCRI bred it together. Its origins are in Peru’s Andean foothills, and it is a different type of phureja potato. Mayan Gold was the first successful introduction of this type, and it has proven to be extremely popular among chefs and the restaurant trade. Yellow-skinned, long, oval tubers with a deeper golden flesh that has a distinct nutty flavour and a creamy but dry texture. The crispy texture and fluffy centres make it ideal for chips and roasting. When cooked in its skin for all cooking purposes except boiling (as tubers quickly become mushy), it has a fantastic flavour and also makes a stunning pie topping.

Pink Fir Apple

A very old variety that has made a remarkable comeback in recent years. Tubers with a pink skin and butter yellow waxy flesh. A lovely variety of potato ffor making a pan of chips from a single tuber – fantastic!

Shetland Black

The skin is dark blue almost black in colour, with shallow eyes and pale yellow floury, tasty flesh with a distinct purple vascular ring. It can be used for baking, roasting, steaming, and making creative sautéed potatoes.

Good croppers

Golden Wonder

Skin that has rusted. With a rich flavour, this is one of the best varieties for baking, frying, and roasting. The flavour improves with storage. A capable cropper. Good nature slug protection.

Harmony

Smooth oval tubers with white skin and waxy cream flesh. A capable cropper. Double eelworm resistance and scab tolerance.

Maris Bard

Smooth white skinned and white fleshed new potatoes with the traditional new potato flavour. A very early and heavy cropper with excellent drought tolerance.

Picasso

A large cropper that is ideal for storing. Because she was bred from Cara, she has creamy skin and bright red eyes. Waxy skin. Although susceptible to slugs, it has excellent disease and drought resistance.

Other Seed Potato Varieties to try

Apache

Red and yellow skins with a superb texture that can be eaten hot or cold.

Arran Pilot

Red and yellow skins with an excellent texture that can be eaten hot or cold.

Aura

The firm buttery texture, with yellow fleshed tubers retain their colour and have a fantastic flavour, but do not disintegrate, making them popular with restaurants and gardeners alike.

Belle de Fontenay

Pre-1950s selection. An old French variety prized for its flavour, which improves with storage. Lovely pale yellow tubers.

British Queen

Over a century old and highly valued for its yield, form, floury texture, and delectable flavour. Summertime favourite in Ireland.

Carlingford

Grow your own new potatoes for Autumn and Christmas Second Cropping, which are perfect for growing in exhibitions bags and potato tubs. Carlingford was the first ‘Second Cropper,’ and he is still the best. Out of season, oval white-skinned and waxy jacketed tubers for the ‘New Potato’ flavour.

Charlotte

A popular salad variety that produces pear-shaped yellow skinned waxy tubers with creamy yellow flesh that is delicious hot or cold. Flowers in pale purple.

Desiree

The most widely known red potato in the world. Pale yellow waxy flesh with a firm texture. Versatile for all types of cooking. Excellent drought resistance.

Duke of York

It is prized for its pale gold tubers and dry floury texture with a distinct flavour. A classic early variety that, if left alone, develops into a high-quality general-purpose potato.

Epicure

Floury ‘novel’ potato with white skin and creamy white flesh with a delicious flavour. The classic Ayrshire potato. Excellent for frost recovery.

Foremost

As a new potato, it is always popular because it has slightly waxy firm white flesh with good flavour that does not dissolve or discolour when cooked.

Fortyfold

This is the earliest known culinary British variety still known, producing a large number of round, purple-skinned, deep-eyed tubers with white flashes. A true ‘nutty’ flavour found in the traditional Lancashire Hotpot. Bigger tubers can be roasted, baked, or boiled. Kerrs’s father.

Home Guard

As the name implies, this was a popular film during WWII. Firm, creamy white, dry flesh with a pleasant flavour.

International Kidney

A Victorian-era selection of International Kidney is still cultivated on Jersey and commercialised under the trademark ‘Jersey Royal.’ International Kidney makes an excellent, very waxy salad potato when harvested as a second early. International Kidney is a versatile early maincrop potato that produces floury big kidney tubers.

Lady Balfour

Named after the founder of the Soil Association. Tubers with pink splashes and firm, moist creamy flesh. Blight resistance is impressive, as is eelworm resistance. Massive crops, even in poor soils. It keeps well. Perfect for organic gardeners.

King Edward

A popular choice for roasting. Cooking rarely discolours the creamy white flesh. The traditional Christmas roasted potato.

Marfona

As a big tuber early baker, it is very popular. White skin, pale gold moist flesh.

Maris Peer

The firm buttery textured yellow fleshed tubers maintain their colour and possess an excellent flavour, but do not disintegrate, making them popular with restaurants and gardeners alike. Beautiful purple flowers.

Red Norland Potatoes

Red Norland is a red-skinned potato with a white-flesh, that matures early. Smaller tubers are often referred to as “baby reds,” and this variety is frequently served boiled or in potato salads. Not so good for baking, but fine for chips and roasts.

Puritan

One of the first white Earlies introduced to Europe, this white variation of the pink Beauty of Hebron was bred in Hebron, New York State. Delicious boiling/’new’ potato.

Red Craigs Royal

White Craigs Royal (1947) variation discovered by Mr Marshall of Dunning in 1957 and widely successful for its yields and flavour. Minitubers that have been clinically proven to provide optimum plant health protection.

Rooster

A delicious red from Ireland that is quickly becoming popular. A great all-arounder that produces oval tubers with pale gold, dry, floury flesh.

Sharpes Express

Despite being over a century old, this Early is still highly regarded. Excellent flavour and high dry matter yield tasty chips and ‘new’ potatoes.

Winston

Large tubers of uniform form and size. Creamy, moist flesh with a delicious taste. Cooking does not discolour flesh.

For more information on the topic of seed potato varieties, I suggest you visit this page on the RHS website. I have also written this guide on chitting potatoes that you may find useful if you haven’t grown potatoes before.

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. raymond butcher

    Hi Getting desperate. I have been unable to source Fortyfold Potatoes. Any suggestions please.

  2. James Middleton

    I see what you mean. I am very good at finding things via google, and I couldn’t find Taylor’s Forty-Fold anywhere! Perhaps another one of our readers has spotted this variety somewhere?

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