Here in the west country (well on our allotment site) we dont bother with main crop spuds as blight gets them as we dont use chemicals ect to prevent it. Instead we plant earlies and get a good crop, as for what variety well pink fur and anja have been ace no blight and lots of spuds and are still expensive in shops even when in season if you can find them. Also there are funky coloured ones which are fun when friends come for tea.
We found that digging a furrow and planting the spuds at the bottom was a waste of time as the potaoes were only in the top 7-10 inches of soil (our soil is quite heavy on a clay base) so instead just open the soil with a spade and drop the spud in and earth up a couple of times as it grows.