Staarted to Plant the seed potatoes today...

Anyone in an area that is still getting frost at night will probably hold back on planting. However - I need to get this first batch into the ground - so planted my first earlies Pentland Javelin today. They have chitted over the last couple of weeks, the chits are sturdy looking but not very long.

I planted them by digging a trench - markers at the end of the rows, labelled so that I know they are the first earlies. The chits go upwards and I space them as the planting instructions on the bag, or slightly closer if I do n't mind smaller potatoes and am lacking space. If you are short of space it is better to give the main crops more space - as instructions and compromise a little on the planting distances of the frst earlies as they spend less time in the ground and are eaten as smaller - new potatoes. Main crops are left in for longer and produce bigger potatoes usually. I have planted by the other method in the past  i.e. by digging individual holes for the potatoes but I think the trench method probably is quicker and suits my soil on the allotment better ( I hope the trench means less chance of compacted soil between the potatoes).

How Many Chits should I have on my Seed Potatoes ?

The most important thing is that the chits that your seed potatoes have formed are sturdy green shoots and not straggly thin white ones.  The straggly thin white ones form when the seed potatoes lack light or are too warm.

Once your potatoes start to form chits you will see that some of them produce more than others. Some people believe in is a good idea to restrict the number of chits developing on the seed potato.

I do not bother as I do not like to cut into the potato and risk spoiling it, others think the number of shoots should be restricted - mixed bag of opinions really.

If you leave less shoots you may get larger potatoes but as first earlies are new potatoes and smaller ones are nice I do not see the point. Maybe experiment by restricting the number of shoots on a few of the main crops that you will leave to develop for baked potato sized spuds.

If you are not sure about chitting potatoes here are three links with useful advice :

BBC gardenersworld video - potatoes-chitting.

How-To-Chit-Potatoes

Potato-Chits-What-Should-they-look-like

Here is a link to how to plant your seed potatoes...
BBC Gardeners World.How-to plant seed potatoes - planting.


Happy planting.