05 Jan - Chitting Potatoes

It's the first week of January, garden centres and stores like Wilkinson are already clearing the aisles of tinsel and are restocking them with seeds, plants and garden tools. It's great to have a look at what's on offer, an antidote to the winter blues.

I've already bought my potatoes and have set them out in seed trays to 'chit'. Chitting is the process of encouraging the potato stalks to start growing before planting in early spring. These are not the long weedy, pale stalks that grow when you've left spuds under the sink too long - these proper chits will eventually develop into foliage. This will give the potatoes a good start and it is recommended that all potatoes are chitted before planting though it's more important to get 'early' potatoes well chitted. However, if you are late with your spuds, don't worry, just plant them anyway because they'll come up!

Open the packs, look at each potato carefully and place them with the 'eyes' upward. Sometimes it can be a bit difficult to spot the 'eyes' but after a few weeks they will develop so you can turn any around that have been stood upside down, so check them regularly. Egg boxes are handy if you have them but I've never had any issues with seed trays. Place the chitting potatoes in a light but frost free place.

This year I'm growing the 'early' potato 'Rocket', one of the quickest developing earlies. I want this crop finished and cleared by the second week of June as I plan to use the ground for winter squash. If I can get the earlies planted before the last week of March (weather permitting) I should be able to get a good 10-12 weeks in the ground and Rocket are known for producing as early as 10 weeks. 

My main crop this season will be 'Sarpo Mira' - a variety I have never grown before. These pink skinned potatoes are relatively new to the market and they are the first of the 'Sarpo' blight resistant varieties. I've seen good reports about these in 2013 because, as they are extremely blight tolerant, they seem to keep growing well into late September. This means that while other varieties have to have their foliage cut down to protect the tubers from the blight spores, Sarpo Mira keep growing, putting more weight on the potatoes.