Growing potatoes for show

I cut the tops off my first lot of spuds this evening. (See pic)

Potatoes for show are grown in large pots full of peat. (Yes I know I'm depleting the peat bogs but if you've ever been to a peat bog you'll know they are soggy, dark shit'oles that only mosses and the lesser spotted peatbog warbler inhabit....so the sooner we use it all up the sooner we can build houses and factories there).

Anyway.......the idea is that when you plant your spud in the bottom pot the root grows through the holes into the soil below. As the potato foliage breaks through then more peat is added and another upturned pot with the bottom cut out is attached as per the picture shown. More peat is added until both pots are full. In this way it is like 'earthing up' on a conventional veg plot except that when harvested the spuds are very clean and free from the usual blemishes that you get when grown in garden soil.

The rows of pots in the foreground are the variety 'Winston', an early variety that has white flesh. They were planted on the 7th May. The foliage has been cut off but I won't empty out the pots for another week. The reason for this is to allow the skins to harden, making cleaning for the show a lot easier. If I harvested them now the skins would peel off very easily making them useless for showing. All the pots are now indoors in my garage so that no rain can get at them.

The pots at the back of the picture are 'Kestrel' and will be harvested in another week or so. At this point I don't know if the spuds will be of a suitable size for the showbench. I will only know next week when I start emptying out these first pots. Because of the hot, dry summer the foliage has often looked 'tired' compared to other years and I've had to water more often than usual (no hosepipe ban where I am). One other tip......remove the flowers as they appear. This makes the plant put energy into the tubers rather than wasting it on producing flowers and seed.