Potatoes are starchy tuberous root vegetables, which are the world’s 4th largest food crop. They grow in the root system of a herbaceous plant and have become an important staple crop in northern Europe.

The first step when cultivating potatoes is to purchase your seed potatoes. These can be ordered online, delivered from a catalogue or bought from your local garden centre.The seed potatoes then need to be chitted. This is done because the soil in the UK can be very cold at the start of the year, so the potato growth will be limited. Chitting gives the plant a head start. This involves laying the potatoes in a frost free place to start to develop shoots. Once the shoots start growing, the potatoes can be planted into the ground, making sure they are well spaced apart. From each seed potato a plant will grow, producing up to a dozen new potatoes.

As the plants start to appear the soil should be built up around them, covering the plant, until a mound of soil is created. The plants grow to around 60cm, and have small white, red or purple flowers. Potatoes can be susceptible to blight (a fungus), so it is best to try to grow resistant varieties. If your potato plants develop brown patchy leaves and you are certain it is blight, it is essential that all infected plants are destroyed (not composted). Potatoes are harvested by simply by digging the soil carefully around the plant using a garden fork, being careful to avoid hitting the crop.

January and February are important months for preparation when you have an allotment. There are lots of things that need to be done to make life easier in the busy months ahead. During the winter it can be easy to think that nothing needs to be done, or that the conditions are not right, but time spent now is an investment:

• Plan your plot - what are you going to grow, what was good last year, what do you enjoy?
• Order your seeds - this can be done early, so that everything is ready for the sowing season.
• General maintenance - clean your tools, fix any items that may have broken last year and give your shed a through clean.
• Clean your seed trays and pots - to remove any potential disease which may be left over from last year.
• Start chitting your potatoes - if you buy these in January, they can be left to chit until it is time to plant them out.
• Finish your digging - break up the ground and remove any debris.
• Cover the ground with black plastic - this will increase the ground temperature so you can plant earlier in the season.

Having an allotment that you rent from your local authority is one of the best ways to start producing your own veg. The rent on these is usually only a small amount of money per year, in the region of £50 for a full plot and only £25 for a half plot.

However if you have space in your garden then this could be the perfect place to start growing; this is because you have instant access to your produce at any time of the day. If you only have a small garden you can still keep a pot of handy herbs near your back door or even on you window sill, the most common and easy to grow being rosemary and parsley.

Once you have decided where you would like to grow your own produce. It is time to start looking at what type of things you would like to grow. Garden centres and internet sites offer a vast selection of vegetable plants, seeds, fruit plants and fruit trees as well as all the equipment you need to start producing your own veg.

Instead of spending a great deal of money when you are initially setting up your allotment some companies give away promotional merchandise like free seeds or even free plants. These offers are great, so you should always accept these gifts. Remember however to check the use by date on the back of the seed packet because some may need to be planted straight away.

If you have a plot of land on which you have decided to grow fruit and vegetables, one of the first things you will need to do is assess your soil. Soil types vary across the country, even across a plot!

To get the best out of the soil, it is important to identify what type you are dealing with. Soil texture may fall into the following categories: Clay, silt or sand. These are categorised by the size of the grains of the soil, and their corresponding nutrient levels.

Clay soil is made of fine particles, which clump together, and become heavy and often waterlogged. There are few air spaces and poor drainage in clay soil. It can be hard for plants to force their roots into this soil, but it can be rich in nutrients. Organic matter can be added to improve the texture.

Sandy soil has a gritty texture. This means that water drains quickly through it, leaving it dry with little water for plants. As a consequence, sandy soil can be poor in nutrients, and needs organic matter to add the nutrients required.

Silty soil falls somewhere between clay and sand, with fine particles, rich in nutrients but free draining.

There are many reasons to have an allotment. Some people consider owning an allotment a thing of the past or a quiet activity for retirees. However, with the current financial problems in the UK it has never been so popular to grow your own veg.

The reasons for owning an allotment are not however just financial. We all know that vegetables are good for us, and there is an enormous difference between the ones that we can grow ourselves and the ones that are mass produced for the giant supermarket conglomerates. Supermarket vegetables may be shipped half way around the world accruing an inordinate number of air miles, they may be irradiated, treated with chemicals to keep pests at bay or coated with preservatives to increase their shelf life.

Vegetables are produced in such quantities that to produce such high yields they cannot match in flavour or freshness than crops that you have grown yourself. From the moment that you cultivate the soil and then plant the seed, to the day your crop has matured and is ready to be picked, you know exactly when they have been fed, watered, manured or tended. Eating vegetables just picked or pulled is immensely good for you, the fresher the vegetables are, the more packed with vitamins and minerals they are going to be.

Eating fresh ingredients is not however the only health promoting activity an allotment can bring; working on your plot in the fresh air can be a productive and enjoyable way to keep fit. Many people consider their allotment a soothing place where they can unwind after a difficult week at work or a contemplative place to reinvigorate the soul.

Whatever your reasons allotment gardening is an enjoyable and rejuvenating activity that will bring you many years of happiness.