The Humble Seed Potato
Following a Daddy trip to the local DIY, 2 bags of seed potatoes were collected and dropped off in the allotmenteers hands. Rising to the challenge they ripped open the tops of the bags with excitement and found…. potatoes. The whole idea of growing potatoes from potatoes (and not seeds) seemed a little strange to them at first. However they took to lining them up on a tray soon enough.
A few days in the light and we’ll see what happens. They are apparently supposed to now sprout some more, the technical term for this ‘chitting’. The word ‘chitting’ I would add here sounds ever so slightly different coming out of the mouth of a just 4 year old. I think we’ll stick with ‘sprouting’ for the foreseeable.
The chitting of a ‘tuber’ potato will make their transition to the dark world of the allotment soil bed easier, and therefore, more likely to grow successfully. Lets hope so as these we’re classified as an ‘easy to grow’ veg so if we don’t have success with these, I worry about how we’ll manage with some of the more technical items planned.
Now apparently potatoes grow best in a slightly acidic soils, although they do successfully grow in a wide range of soil types. This is lucky as we have no idea what pH our soil type is, whether it might require an application of sulphur and for that matter, how we would go about applying it if it did.
The basis for a new project for the home ed allotmenteers do we think?
Want to have a go?
