As far as I'm aware, you can just clean them and cook them at once, Pottydottie.

I found it a right real treat to eat freshly dug pot's. There's such a noticable difference. I dug-up,washed and boiled mine till soft added some butter, salt and pepper. Let me know how they tasted!

Yup for immediate eating lift one 'root' by digging up clean and use. Make sure you get all the tiny potatoes, don't leave any behind or they will grow next year. The foliage root remains, any tiny potatoes and any green fruits should all be burnt or put in your wheelie bin - NOT the compost bin. When you harvest your main crop do so on a dry day and leave on the surface of the ground for several hours before gently cleaning off the excess soil and bagging up in a paper or jute sack.

huge great Big Thank you moon grower,Mrssparrow and spritzhenry, it's just I lifted some yesterday and cooked them but they fell apart but WOW.. the taste was fantastic. I through that I just cooked hem too soon after lefting that why they fell apart.

You have had a log drought and the potatoes probably did not get enough water. Thus when you boil them they absorb more water than usual and break down. You could try steaming them instead and remember that freshly lifted potatoes take less time to cook that shop bought ones. If what you have grown is a 'floury' potato it will be even more inclined to break down.

Thank you so much for your help. ;-)

The theory is that you leave them on the surface of the soil on a dry day for a few hours or a day (not longer or they'll go green) as this hardens the skins for storing them in a sack. But if your soil is already dry there's really no need in my experience.