Key Dates for GYOP Project
Key Dates - Register by Friday 29th January 2027
Please be aware that ONLY Primary and Nursery classes in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are eligible to take part in the GYOP project and will be allocated kits.
We have replica kits if you are not eligible or require more. We also have grow bags for sale.
Key Dates - Chitting
Your kits will arrive mid February and you will need to chit them before you plant them.
Start chitting your seed potatoes when you get them in February. This will take about 2 weeks.
Chitting will speed up the growing process of your potatoes, by exposing them to light and more importantly, a bit of warmth. This will cause the eyes of the seed potato to start sprouting and should result in a better crop.
Key Dates - Planting
Planting Day Nation wide is Tuesday 9th March
By now you should have chitted your potatoes, but don't worry if not, you can still plant them. Just be extra careful not to over water them before they have had a chance to get established.
Don't forget to label your grow-bags to help identify the variety growing.
If your school schedule conflicts with this date, or if the weather is too cold to go outside don't worry! Any time in the next week will give a good harvest by the summer holidays. Many gardeners will plant in April and even into May. However their harvest will be much later. A March planting day gives 12-14 weeks of growing before the summer holidays.
Key Dates - Growing
9th March - 15th June
14 weeks from planting to harvesting.
To grow a successful crop your potatoes will need light, water, food, space and air.
Make sure you find the perfect spot to stand your bag, keep soil moist, but not wet and don't forget to top up your soil as the plant grows to give the potatoes plenty of room.
Watch out for late frosts. Potatoes hate frosts and if possible you should bring your bags inside overnight if frost is forecast.
Key Dates - Harvest
Tuesday 15th June
Now is the exciting time when you find out if all of your hard work has paid off, just 14 weeks since planting.
If you remove the green tops from your plants, it makes them easy to pull out of the bag without damaging them, this means you can re-use the bags to grow something else.
Once out of the bags, the fun begins; roll up those sleeves and rummage through the soil to find your potatoes, just watch out for the mother tuber!!
Have fun measuring and weighing the potatoes. Have you grown one that looks like a pop star or your head teacher? What was the smallest potato? And the largest? Can you tell the differenes between the varieties?
Cooking your potatoes
As soon after harvest as possible
This will be the best bit for some pupils - the reward after the hard work. The potatoes will last for a week or so after harvest, but are best eaten as soon as possible. The official term for them is "new potatoes" and means the first of the new season.
At this stage you should have enough potatoes to cook for your class. Some schools have facilities for this and we have stories of the dinner staff getting involved to cook the potatoes. However, if your school does not have this, we hope that a teacher can take the potatoes home to cook and then bring them back the following day.
Perhaps the children can make a potato salad? We have lots of quick and easy recipes to tempt you.
Please share some pictures of the children enjoying their hard work. Tag us on any social media @GYOPotatoes.
Enter our fun free Competition and give your feedabck
As soon after harvest as possible
When you are harvesting your potatoes take some measurements and pictures and then enter our competition.
Prizes will be confirmed later in the year.
Your feedback is invaluable - our sponsors like to hear about the project (good and bad!) we read and act on all feedback to improve for following years.
Do you have any questions?
If you are worried about being able to deliver this project for your pupils, please be assured that we are here at all stages to help you Grow Your Own Potatoes for your class.
Please let us know if you you have any concerns.
We will answer your questions as soon as possible. Note this is not live chat or 24 hours.
The reply will come from sue@ growyourownpotatoes .org.uk please add to your safe list.
Your details will only be used to answer your query, you will NOT be signed up to receive a Grow Your Own Pack by filling this form in.
If your school uses social media please tag us in all your pictures from chitting to eating.
We're on Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok @GYOpotatoes
