Looking ahead, we are thinking about potato day 2025!
Please see the potato survey on the website for feedback on the varieties you grew this year, and to select the varieties you would like us to stock next year. Please note we will do our best to meet this, but we cannot guarantee to be able to stock them as it depends on availability and demand. Your feedback is vital to help us ensure we stock what is required and reduce waste.
Here is the link to the survey:
Click here to fill in your potato Survey.
Please complete the survey by 1 September. See Potato Summary below.
Summary of potato varieties:
| Type | Name | Description | Notes |
| Salad | Charlotte | Charlotte seed potatoes are the most popular salad potato variety in the UK. Charlotte tubers are long with yellow skins and firm, yellow waxy flesh - making them superb for salads and boiling. These seed potatoes have excellent cooking qualities and are always full of flavour. | Very good levels of foliage and tuber blight resistance. Winner of the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM). |
| Early | Aaron Pilot (Heritage) | Arran Pilot seed potatoes are the nation's favourite garden-grown seed potatoes. These first earlies have been around since 1930 and have remained popular due to their excellent taste. Added to their early boiling ability, Arran Pilot are great for chipping and versatile enough for baking, mashing and roasting. | Arran Pilot produce high yields of white skinned tubers with shallow eyes, has great resistance to all forms of scab and scores a high 9 for spraing resistance. |
| Early | Accord | Accord is a very popular white early bulking variety of seed potato that produces large numbers of tubers at the root. Accord tubers are oval in shape with cream skin and flesh, a great variety for baking, boiling and salads yet versatile enough for chips, mashing or roasts too. | Accord seed potatoes have been noted to have good resistance to common scab and powdery scab. |
| Early | Caledonian Pearl | Caledonian Pearl is a new, high yielding variety that are hardy and easy to grow. Yellow-skinned tubers that set quickly so that they can be harvested early and a waxy flesh that makes them perfect salad potatoes. | With a delicious flavour, Caledonian Pearl can also be used for steaming and boiling and is very versatile; it can be grown in smaller outdoor spaces. |
| Early | Duke of York (Heritage) | Duke of York seed potatoes are an old heritage potato variety, first entered on the national list back in 1891. Since their introduction, Duke of York have become famous for their great taste and all-round culinary ability. | These seed potatoes are oval shaped with yellow flesh. Once they are boiled, Duke of Yorks are dry and mealy, making them an ideal variety to boil straight from your garden. They also show good resistance to dry rot. |
| Early | Dunluce | Dunluce seed potatoes were first bred by Jack Clarke (who famously bred the Ulster range of potatoes) back in 1976. Since then, JBA have been the exclusive growers of this heritage potato variety and supply all other major retailers with their Dunluce seed. These seed potatoes are round to oval in shape, with shallow eyes and skin as white as the flesh. Great for baking, mashing or chipping. We highly recommend Dunluce for great crops of early potatoes. | Dunluce also shows great resistance to both scab and disintegration when boiling. |
| Early | Epicure (Heritage) | Epicure seed potatoes are also known as 'Ayrshires' the traditional early potato in that region. Epicure produce high yields of floury, white fleshed tubers that are round in shape. By far one of the best tasting first earlies, these seed potatoes are now making a comeback by popular demand. An old heritage variety, Epicure potatoes have the ability to recover quickly from a nip of frost, which is what makes them so popular in early producing areas (such as Ayrshire). Boil, mash or enjoy them with a salad. | First early seed potatoes are typically ready for harvesting around 13-15 weeks from planting. |
| Early | Foremost (Heritage) | Foremost seed potatoes (originally called Suttons Foremost) are a variety of heritage seed potatoes first added to the national variety list in 1954. Although Foremost were an instant hit with gardeners who liked it's excellent flavour and resistance to disintegration when boiling, it's average sized yields and disease resistance meant it never really took off commercially. That said, it does have good common scab resistance. | Foremost potatoes are short to oval in shape with white skin and waxy white flesh. Bake them, boil them or throw them in a salad. |
| Early | Home Guard (Heritage) | Home Guard is a conservation and heritage variety. First introduced in 1942, Home Guard became a wonderful first early and favourite potato grown on British Soil throughout WW2. | Still a favourite for their good flavour, this First Early variety is generally ready to harvest 10 – 12 weeks after planting, with the traditional planting time being March – April. Home Guard has good disease resistance and has high resistance to all forms of scab and spraing. |
| Early | International Kidney (Heritage) | International Kidney seed potatoes are officially classed as an early maincrop but can also be considered an early or second early due to the fact they're grown so early in some areas. Tubers are of a kidney shape with shallow eyes and white flesh and skin. Boil them, roast them or enjoy them in a salad. | Introduced in 1879, International Kidney are now considered to be a heritage variety having stood the tests of both time and taste. |
| Early | Lady Christl | Lady Christl seed potatoes produce very early oval tubers, of a medium size with good size yields. Lady Christl tubers are yellow skinned with great tasting, creamy-to-waxy flesh. Boil them, chip them or enjoy them in a salad. | These seed potatoes show good all-round disease resistance, in particular to common scab and potato cyst nematode (PCN). |
| Early | Maris Bard | Maris Bard produces high yielding crops of a good even size and, for many years, was the leading first early for maturing the fastest. | These seed potatoes are oval shaped with white skins, shallow tuber eyes and white flesh. Good resistance against common-scab. Maris Bard are best suited to boiling and early salad use in the kitchen - simply dig, wash, boil and serve. |
| Early | Pentland Javelin | Pentland Javelin were bred by a young Jack Dunnett back in 1968. For years they have been considered to be one of the finest first earlies that you can grow. Javelin produces heavy crops of short oval white skinned tubers with pure white tasty flesh. A great potato to put into the pan and boil and use for salads. | Pentland Javelin also has good all-round disease resistance to common scab and blackleg. |
| Early | Premiere | Premiere seed potatoes are a high yielding first early variety; oval-to-round in shape, with shallow eyes. Introduced in 1979. These are yellow skinned, with yellow flesh and very tasty; bake, boil, chip, roast or enjoy them in a salad. | Premiere potatoes are popular due to their great all round disease resistance to blight, common-scab, powdery-scab, spraing and potato cyst nematode. |
| Early | Red Duke of York (Heritage) | Red Duke of York seed potatoes are a heritage potato variety dating back to 1942, said to be found in amongst a crop of white dukes in Holland. These first early seed potatoes produce red skinned tubers with shallow eyes and yellow flesh. Red Dukes are a dry, mealy potato packed with flavour and do not disintegrate on boiling. | Winner of the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) |
| Early | Rocket | Rocket seed potatoes when first released in 1987 were the quickest bulking of all early potatoes. Rockets ability to grow large crops of uniformed round tubers made it very popular. Considered to be one of the better exhibition potatoes at the time. Tubers are white fleshed and skinned with shallow eyes with a mild taste. | There is good resistance to blackleg, common scab and spraing. Lifting of Rocket before full maturity is recommended to avoid tubers cracking. |
| Early | Sharpes Express (Heritage) | Sharpes Express are a great tasting spud and good potato to plant for an early harvest | Sharpes potatoes has good resistance to common scab |
| Early | Swift | Swift seed potatoes are the earliest of earlies, with crops being harvested in as little as 60 days. A high yielding variety that produces a round-to-oval shaped white tuber with creamy flesh and shallow eyes, this is a real all-rounder in the kitchen. Swift has been bred for early use in the north of Scotland, so you can be assured this is a hardy variety | Great disease resistance to blackleg, common scab, powdery-scab and eelworm. Swift is an ideal variety to grow in containers for early use. |
| Early | Ulster Prince | Ulster Prince seed potatoes are a famous first early variety, first listed in 1947 and renowned for their boiling qualities when cooked straight after harvest. Ulster Prince tubers are long and white, with shallow eyes and white flesh. | Excellent drought resistance makes Ulster Prince a very popular potato in Cumbria, Lancashire and the surrounding counties. These seed potatoes also have good resistance to common-scab and powdery-scab, they are also unlikely to disintegrate in the pan when boiling. |
| Early | Ulster Sceptre | Ulster Sceptre seed potatoes are oval to long in shape with white flesh and white skin. A popular choice of potato on the west coast of England, Ulster Sceptres are also known as 'Cheshire potatoes' and 'Ormskirk Potatoes' due to their popularity in these areas. It has many uses in the kitchen including boiling and roasting | This variety has a high resistance to foliage blight , common scab and powdery scab. Ulster Sceptre has also been known to be a good exhibition potato. |
| Early | Winston | Winston seed potatoes, another Jack Dunnett variety, have proved to be both a commercial and an exhibition success all in one. Released in 1992, this white skinned variety has been unstoppable on the show-bench circuit winning many titles year after year. Winston produces high yields of smooth, shallow eyed, tubers that are short to oval in shape. Their flesh has a firm texture and a creamy colour, whilst their very low, dry matter would see Winston described as a wet potato. | These seed potatoes also have excellent all round potato disease resistance. Winner of the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM). |
| Second Earlies | Acoustic | Acoustic is a great all-round variety with a strong resistance to blight. A second-early potato that produces high yields of round, pale skinned, creamy fleshed and tasty tubers with a waxy texture; perfect for salads and boiling. | You can leave them to mature and lift them later in the season where they will become more floury in texture making them great for chips, baking, mashing and roasting. |
| Second Earlies | British Queen (Heritage) | British Queen seed potatoes are an old variety of heritage potatoes first listed in 1894. These seed potatoes (known in Ireland as 'Queens') are oval in shape with white skin and white flesh. A dry and floury potato, packed with taste and particularly good when boiled. | British Queen is now a rare variety, only grown in small quantities in the UK but growing in popularity once again thanks to it's excellent dry rot resistance. Winner of the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM). |
| Second Earlies | Estima | Estima seed potatoes are commonly the 'baking potato' of choice sold in most supermarkets, and produce heavy crops of large oval tubers with light yellow skin and flesh. | Estima potatoes show good resistance to growth cracks and secondary growth, and are one of the most popular seed potato varieties in the UK, great for baking, boiling and mashing. |
| Second Earlies | Kestrel | Kestrel seed potatoes have to be one of the best overall varieties in living memory. Bred by the great man himself, Jack Dunnett, this potato has taken the exhibition scene by storm because of its consistent size and colour. Without doubt one of the best tasting seed potato varieties available. with excellent cooking uses and disease resistance. | If in any doubt at all, Kestrel are the potatoes that you should always be growing in your garden. |
| Second Earlies | Marfona | Marfona seed potatoes are a high yielding, second early variety, which produces consistent large crops of waxy textured potatoes. Marfona tubers are oval shaped, with light yellow skins and cream coloured flesh. | A perfect seed potato for baking with whilst also good for boiling and chipping with too. |
| Second Earlies | Maris Peer | Maris Peer seed potatoes produce one of the most magnificent looking haulms ever seen. The flowers on the foliage are even scented which makes them unusual for a seed potato. | Maris Peer tubers are oval shaped with white skins and a firm, creamy coloured flesh. Disease-wise they have good resistance to all skin diseases. Maris Peer are particularly well suited for second cropping and harvesting at Christmas time |
| Second Earlies | Nadine | Nadine seed potatoes are one of the most successful varieties, introduced around 1987 by famous potato breeder, Jack Dunnett. Nadine tubers are round in shape with a clean, white skin and cream coloured flesh. A high yielding seed potato variety, Nadine produces many tubers at the root and are a popular showbench variety. | Nadine potatoes tend to be very popular at the supermarkets. |
| Second Earlies | Nicola | Nicola seed potatoes produce a long, oval shaped tuber, with yellow skins and waxy, light yellow flesh - perfect for boiling and salads. | Disease-wise, Nicola are resistant to potato cyst nematode (PCN), common-scab, potato leaf roll virus, potato virus Y and bruising. Nicola potatoes are also a very popular variety for late planting and harvesting at Christmas time |
| Second Earlies | Sagitta | Sagitta are one of the best tasting potatoes available today. | Mainly used in the chip shop trade, these tubers provide excellent, fluffy mash and can be boiled well too. |
| Second Earlies | Saxon | Saxon seed potatoes are a modern-day second early variety that produces large crops of long-oval shaped, white skinned tubers. The flesh of Saxon potatoes is firm and yellow in colour, ideal for all kitchen uses. | Saxon is widely regarded to be amongst the very best tasting of all modern seed potato varieties. |
| Second Earlies | Wilja | Wilja seed potatoes were one of the first Dutch-bred varieties to change the rule book about second earlies. Wilja allowed large consistent crops of light yellow skinned tubers to be produced in a shorter time period. The flesh of Wilja potatoes is yellow and firm, between waxy and floury. | Bake, boil, chip, mash or roast them. |
| Maincrop | Amour | Amour seed potatoes are now back on the market thanks to the use of mini-tuber technology | It is the belief of many that NVS Amour is the ultimate show-bench potato variety. The outstanding uniformity of size and colour coupled with great all round disease resistance make NVS Amour potatoes a constant competition winner. |
| Maincrop | Blue Belle | Blue Belle seed potatoes are full of promise for the keen exhibition grower with strong colour in the eyes; a real challenger to Kestrel as a show-bench potato. These will soon become one of your 'bankers' to grow in your garden every year. | Very high resistance to both splitting and potato virus Y, Blue Belle are generally best suited to baking, boiling or mashing. |
| Maincrop | Cara | Cara seed potatoes are still one of the most popular maincrop varieties due to their excellent resistance to blight. Cara tubers are round with white skin and pink eyes. A robust seed potato variety with excellent drought resistance and good all round disease resistance. | Best suited to baking, boiling, chipping and roasting. |
| Maincrop | Carolus | A fantastic looking potato with a white skin and red splashes of colour around the eyes. | Carolus seed potatoes are a new maincrop variety with dual blight resistance, making it an ideal choice for gardeners. |
| Maincrop | Desiree | Desiree seed potatoes are a popular choice amongst many celebrity chefs including Delia Smith and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, due to their potential to make fantastic roast potatoes. They produce oval, red skinned tubers with pale yellow flesh. They have a firm cooked texture with a medium dry matter. Excellent for roasting, boiling, frying and mashing. | Desiree is a heavy cropper and early bulking with high resistance to drought and good resistance to potato virus Y and powdery-scab |
| Maincrop | Golden Wonder (Heritage) | Golden Wonder seed potatoes produce long, oval shaped tubers with a russet skin. Their flesh is white and floury which, when boiled, can be very dry and mealy - much to the delight of many. | Golden Wonder are a late maturing maincrop seed potato and should be planted as early as possible to produce a large yielding crop. They have great resistance to common-scab. |
| Maincrop | Harmony | Harmony seed potatoes are a very popular export variety as they produce large crops of clean, white skinned tubers, that are very resistant to scab. Harmony is a very good baking potato. | Most people will know of Harmony because of their regular success on the showbench as an exhibition variety. Indeed, their shallow eyes and smooth skin make Harmony a very pretty looking potato. |
| Maincrop | Kerrs Pink | Kerrs Pink seed potatoes are a very popular variety both here in Scotland and over in Ireland, due to their dry and floury nature. Kerrs Pink tubers are normally short and oval with slightly deep eyes. At their very best eaten when simply boiled in their beautiful, pink skins. | These seed potatoes have good blight resistance and long-term storage ability. |
| Maincrop | King Edward | King Edward seed potatoes are probably the most famous potato variety on the market, and for good reason - they have both excellent cooking and taste qualities. Once cooked, King Edward potatoes rarely discolour and offer a broad range of uses. Often copied but never beaten, it's not hard to see why King Edward seed potatoes have been around for a century - a great, solid all-round potato for home growers to enjoy. | |
| Maincrop | Maris Piper | Maris Piper seed potatoes are the undisputed, number one spud of choice for almost all local chip shops. It's the combination of it's excellent cooking and frying qualities that make the Maris Piper potato stand out from the rest, and today it is still grown on a large commercial scale. Maris Piper tubers are oval shaped with white skins and cream coloured flesh. | They are also a option for long-term storage. |
| Maincrop | Orla | Orla seed potatoes are a very popular variety for the organic grower due to their high blight resistance. They can be grown as a first early or instead left to mature as an early maincrop. Orla are one of the better tasting potato varieties available, and produce large crops of bold white tubers. | Winner of the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM). |
| Maincrop | Pentland Crown | Pentland Crown seed potatoes are a high yielding maincrop that produce round and white skinned tubers with white flesh, great for all-round table use. Pentland Crown seed potatoes produce floury potatoes. | Best suited to baking, chipping, mashing and roasting. |
| Maincrop | Pentland Dell | Pentland Dell seed potatoes were the second variety to be produced from the Pentland field station. These seed potatoes produce large, oval-shaped tubers with white skins and creamy coloured flesh. | Pentland Dell is grown on a large scale, for processors who find it a most useful potato. This is helped in no small part by it's strong resistance to all diseases and slugs. Most suited to baking, chipping and roasting. |
| Maincrop | Picasso | Picasso seed potatoes produce tubers which are round-to-oval in shape, with smooth white skins and pink eyes. Picasso is now a popular variety for allotment growers due to its high potato disease resistance. | With Cara as one of its parents, Picasso has a great range of uses in the kitchen. A huge yielder and good storing variety. |
| Maincrop | Pink Fir Apple (Heritage) | Pink Fir Apple seed potatoes are a long and knobbly shaped heritage potato variety maintained by JBA. Due to their unique shape, Pink Fir Apple tubers are best eaten either with their skins on or served as delicious, individual chunky chips. Even when they have been stored, these seed potatoes retain a new potato taste well into the New Year. | Winner of the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM). |
| Maincrop | Record | Record seed potatoes produce tubers that are popular for making chips and crisps due to their high dry matter (great for frying). They can be very dry and mealy after boiling and retain their yellow coloured flesh. | Record potatoes have good all-round potato disease resistance and are great for all-round kitchen use. |
| Maincrop | Sarpo Mira | Sarpo Mira seed potatoes are the most blight resistant potato variety available in the UK. "When grown by Mr Barbour in his own garden for the first time last year. "They didn't require spraying for blight. The haulms were infected with blight but they have still produced blight free tubers on the 12th of October. Very impressive." | Sarpo Mira tubers have a dry, floury texture which are best suited to roasting and chipping, they also make a great baking potato. |
| Maincrop | Setanta | Setanta seed potatoes are one of the most blight resistant potato varieties available in the UK, making them a great variety for the allotment grower. | Setanta tubers have reasonably smooth, red skins, with yellow flesh, are oval in shape and have shallow eyes. Add excellent scab resistance, combine it with great taste and you've got all the makings of an excellent all-round potato to grow at home. |
| Maincrop | Valor | Bred by Jack Dunnett, Valor has a high tolerance of heat and drought whilst their flesh is cream coloured and of a floury texture. | Valor seed potatoes show great levels of blight resistance matched with the ability to produce large crops of bold white tubers. |