"What we need is a few good taters"

The seed potatoes are now chitted (they've been encouraged to sprout and these shoots are new visible) so it's time to start planting. Potatoes need a sunny growing site that's not prone to late frosts because this can damage the young shoots emerging in April and May. Here we're doing them in large containers in a protected south-facing spot. This is an easy method especially for early varieties which produce smaller plants and mature more quickly. Potatoes like rich, fertile ground so the bottom of each container is filled with 10-15cm of well-rotted manure. Then on top of that we're adding a 10-15cm layer of fresh compost. The potatoes are then placed on top of this with the sprouting side (or side spouting the most) face up. A even spacing of 7 or 8 in a container with a 50-60cm diameter will be fine before covering them with a further 10cm layer of additional compost. They then need watering in well and we'll need to keep them well watered throughout the growing season. The traditional way is to "earth up" the plants as they grow, so when the plants are putting out shoots about 20-25cm tall we will add in additional compost leaving just the very tops of each stem above. We'll continue this process probably a further three times or until the containers are filled with compost, and the foliage above has flowered and died right down - by which time they should be ready to harvest in July. Delicious - with mint and butter!