It is still very wet to be doing anything in the garden but hopefully as February progresses in to March we will have weather to start work on our vegetables. You may consider looking at a plot in the garden and turning it over to a vegetable plot and the best crop to be your first crop is potatoes.

The weather has not been entirely conducive to working in the garden or in the allotment.

Potatoes can practically be grown anywhere even in pots and containers but it is the perfect first crop to help break up a heavy clay soil.

There are thousands of varieties of potatoes but perhaps less than one hundred suitable for the UK.

Now is a good time to visit the garden centre and choose your variety.

Potatoes are grown from tubers called seed potatoes and can be grown throughout the year and termed first earlies, second earlies and main crop.

It is not essential to chit your early potatoes however this does give them a good start when it comes time to plant them out therefore if you are able to place your seed potatoes in trays or egg boxes with the eye of the potato facing upwards, this is the end with the small indentation of the potato.

They are best kept in a warm location with some light, this will encourage them to sprout green shoots or chits.

They will require to be moved to a slightly cooler position prior to planting them in the garden.

Do not plant in a wet or waterlogged sight, potatoes prefer open sunny conditions and frost free.

Do not plant out until the final frost of winter is over.

If you start the chitting process just now and allow five to sic weeks the sprouts should be ready for planting outside providing there is no risk of frost, the usual length would be two to three centimetres.

If there is any sign of white shoots at the start of the chitting process gently rub these off before placing in your chitting tray.

The potatoes require to go in to a well prepared soil bed, manure would need to have been applied in the autumn months.

The ideal pH of the soil for potatoes is between five to six on the pH scale, the pH of your soil can be checked with a simple kit from the garden centre and follow if any lime is required make sure this is done a few weeks prior to planting and is well worked in to the soil.

Plant your chitted potatoes at least 150-200mm apart in drills and apply a general fertiliser to the bottom of your trench dig prior to planting.

Potatoes like nice loose soil in which to grow, if you have not loosened the soil the yield of the potato will be poor. Your first early potatoes should be ready to harvest in June.

There are a number of pests and diseases to be aware of in the life of the potato and hopefully a dry summer to avoid similar loss of crops to that experienced in 2015.

Paul Brannan