Warning issued to anyone growing potatoes in their garden

By Max Parry, News Reporter

A farmer holding potatoes in a field (Image: Getty)

February may not appear to be a critical month for those growing produce in their gardens, but it's actually quite an important period.

For those growing potatoes, this wintery month doesn't come with a long list of tasks. Instead there is one key task to do and it's pretty fundamental: plant your tatties.

The process is called 'chitting' and requires home gardeners to take their seed potatoes and plant them - but not in soil.

Chitting means to encourage sprouting. To do this, take your seed potatoes and plant them in an egg box. Be careful to ensure that the potatoes 'eyes' - the small divots where the sprouts will grow from - are facing upwards.

A sprouting seed potato (Image: Getty)

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) encourages gardeners to label their egg boxes with the variety of potato that is being grown so that you don't forget.

All that's left to do after that is wait for the spouts to grow. It should take around four to six weeks.

Once the sprouts are 2cm in length, they are ready to be planted in the ground.

You can grow several varieties of potatoes at home (Image: Getty)

Once the spuds are sprouting, they're ready to plant. The RHS recommends planting the potatoes around April.

The experts at RHS explain: "To plant, dig a trench 15cm (6in) deep, place the seed potatoes along the base with the sprouts upwards. Cover with at least 2.5cm (1in) of soil, taking care not to damage the sprouts, and water well.

"Alternatively, you can dig individual holes for each seed potato."