What's in season: July
This month we're talking about new potatoes
New potatoes from Jersey or further afield appear on supermarket shelves very early in the year, but most British new potatoes, especially those grown at home, only come into their own now. Planted in March or April, new potatoes do best if they receive plenty of rain during May and June while their tubers are swelling.
New potatoes are usually ready to harvest when they begin to flower, athough it’s worth using a fork to gently investigate whether decent sized tubers have developed on one plant before lifting the whole crop. Unearthing a mass of perfectly-formed potatoes from the ground is one of life’s greatest pleasures and something children never fail to find astonishing.
New potatoes need to be really waxy for the best potato salads. Great waxy varieties include ‘Accent’, ‘Annabelle’ and ‘Charlotte’. For home gardeners, early varieties like these are well worth growing as they taste delicious when very fresh and can be harvested before potato blight starts to be a problem in late summer.