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.