British Queen
Grown here for flavour rather than convenience, and worth the trouble in a decent summer.
British Queen was raised in Scotland in the 1890s and then adopted so completely in Ireland, particularly in the south east, that many people assume it is an Irish variety. It is a second early that eats like a maincrop: white skinned, white fleshed, very floury and with a flavour that keeps it on Irish seed lists more than a century after it was introduced. It is also thirsty, blight prone and easy to overcook, so it asks something of you.
Quick facts
- Botanical name
- Solanum tuberosum
- Type
- Certified seed tuber
- Category
- Second early
- Difficulty
- Easy, good first crop
- Hardiness
- Half hardy, protect from frost
- In Ireland
- Grows outdoors unprotected
- Sowing depth
- 10cm
- Spacing
- 40cm apart, 75cm between rows
- Position
- Full sun
- Containers
- Grows well in pots
- Sowing to harvest
- 10 to 22 weeks
- Harvest
- July to August
- Award
- RHS Award of Garden Merit
Sowing and harvest calendar for British Queen
Months shaded below are the reliable windows for Irish conditions.
Where to buy British Queen seed potatoes in Ireland
Irish suppliers that stock this, so postage stays domestic and seed arrives in time to sow. These are plain links, not paid placements.
- Fruit Hill Farm Irish Organic seed potatoes split by earlies, maincrop and blight resistant Bantry based supplier to Ireland's commercial organic growers. Certified organic and biodynamic seed, mail order only. Visit Fruit Hill Farm , Co. Cork
- Quickcrop Irish Sorted by first early, second early and maincrop Ballymote based, lists sowing and harvest months per product and ships across Ireland. Visit Quickcrop , Co. Sligo
Why it suits Ireland
British Queen fits the Irish season in a practical way. It goes in with the earlies in late March or April, comes out from late July, and so occupies the awkward gap between the new potatoes finishing and the maincrop being ready, all without sitting in the ground through the worst of the blight period in September.
It also matches Irish taste. This is a dry, floury, strongly flavoured potato of the kind that Irish cooking is built around, and it holds its own against Kerr’s Pink and Golden Wonder while coming ready six weeks earlier.
Set against that, it has no blight resistance, it dislikes drought, and it bruises easily when lifted. None of those are fatal in an average Irish summer, but they are why it is a variety with a following rather than a variety everyone grows.
Growing notes
Chit from February. Plant from late March into April, 35cm apart in rows 60 to 65cm apart, which is between the spacing you would give a first early and a maincrop.
Earth up twice as the shoots grow, building a decent ridge. The tubers sit shallow and green readily.
Water in dry spells from the moment flower buds show. This is the variety where that advice actually pays, because a check during bulking gives you a light crop of small potatoes and there is no recovering it later.
Start lifting from late July, taking plants as you need them. It will hold in the ground into late August, but every extra week in a wet season is another week of blight risk, so if warnings are being issued and the crop is ready, get it out. Handle it gently going into the sack, since it marks more easily than Rooster, and use it within a couple of months rather than treating it as a long keeper.
Common questions
Why is British Queen so popular in Ireland?
Flavour, mainly, and habit. It arrived in the 1890s and became the standard second early across much of the south and east, so several generations grew up on it and kept planting it. It is floury, dry and full flavoured in a way most modern second earlies are not, and it comes out of the ground in late July and August when the earlies are finished and the maincrop is still bulking up.
Does British Queen crop well?
Honestly, not as heavily as a maincrop, and it is sensitive to a dry spell at the wrong moment. In a June with three dry weeks in it the tubers stay small. Watering during the tuber bulking period, which starts when the flower buds appear, makes a bigger difference to this variety than to most. Grow it for what it tastes like rather than for weight of crop.
How do I stop it going to mush when I cook it?
Treat it as a floury potato, not an all rounder. Cook it in the skin, start it in cold water, keep the heat to a bare simmer, and drain it slightly early to finish in its own steam. Boiled hard in salted water it will collapse. It roasts and mashes superbly, which is where most Irish cooks put it.
More potatoes to consider
Rooster
AGM/ Maincrop
The default Irish maincrop for good reason: heavy crops, keeps well, and floury without collapsing in the pot.
Growing notes and stockistsHome Guard
/ First early
The old reliable first early, out of the ground and eaten before blight has a chance to find it.
Growing notes and stockistsKerr's Pink
/ Maincrop
The floury maincrop older Irish cooks swear by, if you can forgive it for falling apart in the pot.
Growing notes and stockistsOrla
AGM/ First early
The early to grow if blight has beaten you before, and the obvious first choice for organic Irish plots.
Growing notes and stockists