IT is the time of year for nice salads to accompany the garden BBQ or perhaps after the cold few days this week we should at least be planning for those long summer days when salads are on the menu.

What better way than growing, harvesting and cooking our own home grown potatoes from the garden, veg plot or allotment.

You may have already started last month with what is termed 1st Earlies.

If you have already sown and the nice warm days we experienced over the Easter weekend has brought an early show of growth then it will be important to protect this early growth from possible frost damage that we can experience in to June.

You can protect the potatoes by covering gently and lightly with soil from around the base of the plants, this is also a way of weeding the plot/patch at the same time, however, take care not to expose any of the tuber from the potato.

The name given to this is activity is earthing up.

Covering the potatoes in this way also assists with a better crop.

Your first crop should be ready for harvesting around mid June/July.

Now is the time to plant what is termed 2nd Earlies.

Charlotte is a very good variety of 2nd Early which is a blight resistant tuber variety and will give you a good crop of salad potatoes around early-mid August, just in time for those summer evening BBQ salads.

There are many other good varieties available.

It is important to look at how resistant the potato variety is to disease problems

Your main crop of seed potatoes could be purchased now and planted late April, this would make them available for harvesting late August in to September.

When planting your seed potato remember potatoes like plenty of sun so avoid those frost/cold areas of the garden.

Keep weed free by earthing up as described earlier and once foliage develops this manages to keep down weeds on its own.

Plant the potatoes depending on their types, Early Potatoes should be planted 300mm apart and thicker main crop potatoes 375mm apart.

The depth of planting hole will depend on the potato type but make sure soil is not compacted below your planting potato.

Add some good potassium based fertiliser to the planting hole and or dig in some manure if you can source.

Pop in to Pollok Country Park and discuss your potatoes with our gardeners.