Selecting Scottish Seed Potato Varieties to Grow

Visit Potato Days with Expert Guide for Potato Flesh Colour Choice

Dec 14, 2008

Forty-eight certified varieties of Scottish seed potatoes, with white cream yellow flesh colour, are available to buy for planting in vegetable gardens and allotments.

Gardeners desiring to plant Scottish varieties of seed potatoes, Solanum tuberosum, can select from the list of 48 varieties found in Alan Romans’ Guide to Seed Potato Varieties, Fourth Edition (Alan Romans, 2008).

Alan Romans’ Guide to Seed Potato Varieties is available to buy at many Potato Days, held in the UK. Potato Days typically offer experienced and tentative vegetable gardeners a selection of certified seed potato varieties to buy, with a pick-and-mix approach of choosing individual potatoes to build their season’s collection.

Planting Seed Potato Scottish Varieties with Cream Flesh

Seed potato varieties can be considered to have distinct flesh colour categories including white, cream, light yellow, mid yellow and deep yellow. Growing conditions include soil structure and nutrient supply, and maturity of tuber when harvested will affect the flesh colour of potato home produce.

The Scottish seed potato export trade was started by the Archibald Findlay seed potato variety Up-To-Date, referenced 1894. Up-To-Date with its cream flesh colour has been grown in vegetable gardens and allotments worldwide and remain available to buy today. Gardener-cooks have sixteen other Scottish varieties of seed potatoes producing cream flesh: Amour, Argos, Claret, Dunbar Standard, Harmony, Kerr’s Pink, Kestrel,Lady Balfour, Maxine, Merlin, Nadine, Osprey, Pentland Dell, Pentland Squire, Sunrise and Verity.

Planting Seed Potato Scottish Varieties with White Flesh

Seed potato Scottish varieties producing a creamy white flesh include Anya, Arran Comet, Ballydoon, Home Guard, Pentland Crown, Pentland Hawk, Pentland Ivory, Pixie and Valor. There are seven Scottish varieties of seed potatoes that can produce a fine white flesh for cooking, Arran Pilot, Arran Victory, British Queen, Dunbar Rover, Edzell Blue and Pentland Javelin. Reliable Majestic receives a special mention as one of the most popular seed potato varieties of the past 50 years.

Planting Seed Potatoes Scottish Varieties With Yellow Flesh

Vegetable gardeners wishing to grow potatoes with a yellow flesh for eating could consider buying Scottish varieties such as Mayan Gold for deep yellow, Mimi for mid yellow, Celine, Stemster, Stroma, Swift, Moulin Rouge, Vales Emerald, Vales Sovereign, Winston, or for a light yellow Catriona, Duke of York, Golden Wonder, Harlequin and Royal Kidney.

Alan Romans writes in his Alan Romans’ Guide to Seed Potato Varieties that country of origin of a seed potato variety “is usually very straightforward. I am aware of the important historical role played by plant breeders in Scotland and Northern Ireland and have made the distinction where I can. Sometimes it is only possible to tie a variety down in references as coming from the UK generally.”

The copyright of the article Selecting Scottish Seed Potato Varieties to Grow in Kitchen Gardens is owned by Susan Morris. Permission to republish Selecting Scottish Seed Potato Varieties to Grow in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.