Sowing Potatoes for Christmas: How to Grow a Festive Crop

Dreaming of freshly harvested new potatoes with Christmas dinner? Although gardeners often search for “sowing potatoes for Christmas,” potatoes are planted as seed tubers rather than sown from seed. With the right varieties, timing and frost protection, you could enjoy tender, home-grown potatoes in December.

When to Plant Christmas Potatoes

Buy specially prepared, cold-stored seed potatoes in July or August. These are often sold as second-cropping or Christmas-cropping potatoes.

Most early varieties take around 12 weeks to produce a crop. In a frost-free greenhouse, cool conservatory or bright porch, potatoes can be planted in late August or early September for harvesting around Christmas. Summer-planted tubers usually do not need chitting because the growing medium is already warm.

Best Potato Varieties for Christmas

Choose fast-growing first or second early potatoes. Recommended varieties include:

• Charlotte – a popular waxy salad potato with creamy yellow flesh and excellent flavour.
• Nicola – produces smooth, yellow, waxy potatoes suitable for boiling and salads.
• Maris Peer – a reliable Christmas-cropping variety with firm flesh that holds together during cooking.
• Duke of York – a flavourful traditional first early.
• Pentland Javelin – a productive early variety suited to late planting.
• Arran Pilot – a quick-growing potato ideal for producing small new potatoes.

Availability varies, so purchase certified seed potatoes specifically prepared for summer planting rather than replanting potatoes harvested earlier in the year.

How to Plant Potatoes for Christmas

Use a container at least 30cm deep and wide with drainage holes. Add approximately 10cm of peat-free potting compost, place one seed potato on top and cover it with another 10–15cm of compost.

As the shoots grow, gradually add more compost until the container is almost full. This process, known as earthing up, protects developing potatoes from light and helps prevent them from turning green.

Keep the compost evenly moist and apply a general-purpose liquid feed during active growth. Larger containers can hold additional tubers, provided each one has roughly 30cm of growing space.

Protecting and Harvesting Christmas Potatoes

Place containers somewhere bright and frost-free, as frost will damage the foliage. Once the leaves yellow and die back, remove them and keep the compost fairly dry.

The potatoes can remain safely inside the container until Christmas, ready to be tipped out, washed and cooked for your festive meal.

For the best chance of success, plant several containers over a few weeks and protect every crop from frost.