The meandering thoughts of a modern-day hearth witch.


Saturday 25 February 2012

Allotment Tales // Chitting Potatoes

We planted our potatoes today.

Image courtesy of www.wegrowourown.co.uk

I think we're probably a bit quick off the mark, actually, so these will give us an early crop. However, we needed to get them in the soil as they were chitting so rapidly they had shoots of about two inches long!

You may well be asking - what on earth is 'chitting'?

Chitting is the term used for encouraging the seed potatoes to sprout before you plant them. When we got our seed potatoes, we cut them in half, so for each potatoes we should get two plants. You can begin chitting in late January or February and should do so around 6 weeks before you intend to plant out. 

The easiest way to chit is by putting your seed potatoes into empty egg boxes or a crate, somewhere warm and light. Once the shoots are around an inch long, and the soil has warmed up, they'll be ready to plant. We've had much warmer weather this week and I'm hoping it is going to stay that way for our newly planted potatoes. Normally it is advised that you wait until mid-March to plant your early crops.  

2 musings:

C said...

wow thats keen :) mine are chitting, in fact they are on my next post due to be on later this evening :)great minds eh must be the milder weather. I talked about getting some in early in the tunnel but as yet they are still sitting in the tray lol

charlotte's menagerie said...

So all one needs to do is cut them in half and put them in a warm sunny spot until they sprout. Add nothing, right. I need to get this done. Before I have just cut my potatoes in half and put them in the ground. I've learned something.

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