The best potatoes for chips, wedges and roasties 'Belle de Fontenay," 'International Kidney" ('Jersey Royal"), and 'Cherie" are all wonderfully waxy, delicious salad potatoes of the sort that command the highest, early season prices. They account for most of the potatoes I grow. They are in, grown, out and eaten before the first whiff of blight, saving me a fortune on buying early season new potatoes and freeing up valuable space for midsummer crops. More importantly, they are so much better than those in the shops, being sweet, with a heavenly texture. Champion chips If you want the best chips, then 'Yukon Gold" is the one to choose. Great boiled and baked too, its buttery, bold yellow flesh takes to deep frying like no other. They are usually ready to harvest in early summer, almost always dodging the arrival of blight. For something a little different 'Highland Burgundy Red" is another great choice for chips. This red-fleshed, heritage potato was chosen in the Thirties to add appropriate colour to a meal for the Duke of Burgundy at the Savoy. Monster mash For perfect, smooth mash, try 'Kestrel," a floury-fleshed, Scottish potato. Not only does it make fine mash, it is a good one for exhibiting if that takes your fancy, and it has good resistance to slugs. Salad Blue" is the other I grow for mash. Delicate in flavour and floury in texture, this blue-fleshed, blue-skinned variety tastes as good as it looks and makes fabulous roast potatoes and crisps too. Royal roasters The oldie but goodie 'King Edward" is hard to match for roast potatoes. Even though they are widely available in the shops, I often grow them myself as the flavour is so much better. But they always share a row with the heritage variety 'British Queen," another fabulous roaster, which you won't find in the shops. Don't forget There are a couple of other varieties I'd recommend: 'Vitelotte," a salad potato harvested later than most, that produces long purple tubers with an incredible flavour, not dissimilar to chestnuts; 'Ratte," similar to the wonderfully nutty 'Pink Fir Apple," but earlier and less knobbly; and 'Red Duke of York" (tastier than regular 'Duke of York") can be lifted early and waxy or grown on to become larger and flourier. Whatever varieties you choose, buy them at a potato fair if you can. Expect to find a huge range of varieties, experts on hand to advise, and the opportunity to buy tubers in whatever numbers you like - even singly. For more from Mark Diacono, visit otterfarm.co.uk Try potato-days.net and local allotment/garden groups for your nearest potato event in February/March. Visit our Gardenshop for an offer on blight-resistant potatoes