Time to chit

July is the time to be chitting potatoes. Chitting is basically testing to see whether something will grow. Some people chit saved seeds to see what the germination rate will be.

So, have a dig around in you potato bag and see if there are any potatoes that are starting to turn green, with little ‘eyes’ sprouting out. Well done! You have chitted some potatoes. Ok, perhaps you didn’t do that on purpose and are now wondering what to have for dinner tonight instead. Well, there is a bright side.

Instead of tossing them into the compost heap, pop them back into the cupboard and let the sprouts grow a little bit. It is a good time to think about where to plant the potatoes as they are a long crop to mature and can take up a bit of space, you can ‘double up’ an area and plant corn amongst the potatoes if you wish. Soon you will have potatoes ready for sectioning. You will need cut the potatoes with a clean sharp knife ensuring that each section has a nice sprout growing from it. When planting your potatoes, it is useful to know that they grow up the stem. So if possible, dig out trenches or furrows, pop the sectioned potatoes spread along the rows and cover with soil. As they grow up and sprout through the soil, gently cover them over again, repeating this till you have used up your available soil. This way, the stem is longer and you get more potatoes.

But we’ll get into that more later. For now, chit away. And if you are really keen, you might even like to try some gourmet or heritage varieties. It is often a good idea to use certified disease free ‘seed potatoes’ available from garden centres and home improvement stores now.