Tag Archives: chitting

Let them eat (Potato) cake

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we're just chittingIt’s that time again! With the seed potatoes I bought at the Potato Fair and Seedy Sunday the other week I’ve started “chitting” them so to get the spuds off to a good start.

All that entails is simply getting the seed potato, placing them upright in a suitable container, an old egg box or a clean seed tray with the “rose end” upwards (the end that has the “eye’s”) and put in cool, light and airy place, away from frosts and let nature do it job. Mine are in the back room by the patio doors. I’ve just checked them now and I must have put a couple by mistake the wrong way around as yellow buds were starting at the bottom. No bother, just turn them around  if that happens.

In a few weeks you will get nice tight buds forming not those long yellow shoots you get when a potato starts to spout inside the spud bag! I’ve also felt-tipped on the box what variety they are and if it’s an early or a main cropper, as it’s very easy to get confused having bought two varieties.

We were told a great tip last year from Shirley Calgary who said “Actually you do not need the whole potato – I have cut the potatoes in 2 or 3 pieces as long as you have a sprouted or sprouting eye you are all set.” Brilliant!

Remember to tell everyone else in the house that they are special seed potatoes or you might have them cut, boiled and served on your dinner plate like “lewishamgardens” did. That’s a crime!

What a difference a day makes

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How mad has the weather been this week? I’ve tried to make the most of it and popped out when I could to do the odd bit of weeding and have sowed the odd bit indoors. The combination of the sun and the rain is sending the garden crazy!

I tell you what else was crazy, last Sunday morning as I went downstairs to make a cup of tea I looked out of the back window to see a massive Heron standing motionless by our pond. It looked bonkers, I swear it was three foot high and it looked like it was made out of plastic and boy, the size of its beak! I legged it to get the camera and when I got back, you know it had gone. He must have been right disappointed, as all there is in our pond are thousands of tadpoles and the odd newt!

It was root day last Sunday too so put in the last of the chitted seed potatoes in the bed next to the pond which is mainly going to be just spuds with two rows of onions and a couple of bean poles in a tripod formation style.

As frost is still on the cards for a few weeks I planted them (chitted end up) about 4 inches deep and earthed up the soil around them which will help protect them from any cold snap. The super extra earlies I planted a few weeks ago in the cold frame are steaming on, I swear I am raising the thing with row of extra bricks each week. There’s a log wedged at the back of it now to raise it up even higher. They are doing brilliantly and it’s not even the end of April yet!

You’ve been chitting on me

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The other week I couldn’t stop myself and popped into the garden centre and got myself a bag of Desiree seed potatoes. They cost us £3.99 for about 40 which isn’t bad, as you’re talking 40 plants that will give you a good few spuds on each come harvest time in September, well worth it!

The first thing I’ll be doing is encouraging the seeds to sprout or “chitting” them, which will give them a head-start before planting them outside. We’re not talking the long pale shoots that you see when potatoes have sprouted after being stored in the dark, but ones that are short and sturdy. It’s worth chitting spuds before planting as their shoots usually appear in the ground a couple of weeks before seed spuds that haven’t.

All you basically do is stand the seed potato’s upright in a container (a seed tray or a cardboard egg box) with the blunt end of the tuber upwards (the end that has the “eyes”). Make sure the container is in a cool position with natural light and where’s there’s no risk of frost. I’ve stuck mine on the floor in the back room by the patio doors. Fingers crossed I don’t stand on them when I’m half asleep doing me tai-chi in the morning!