Top tips on how to prepare potatoes for successful March planting

Seed potatoes are now available in garden centres, so it’s a great time to consider having a go at growing them. They are the world’s fourth largest crop, and so versatile in the kitchen. I can’t imagine a Sunday lunch without roasties.

But besides their incredible flavour, potatoes are a global staple, containing most of the vitamins we require for survival. And they’re packed full of carbohydrate energy too.

I always buy my seed potatoes from my local garden centre around this time. For planting early in the year, you need to seek out ‘Earlies’, which are the simplest to grow, and take up little space. They don’t need planting yet but need to be prepared first. And it couldn’t be easier.

The process your seed potatoes require now is called ‘chitting’. This needs to be done six weeks before planting, so starting this process soon is ideal for March planting.

The chitting process simply allows the potatoes to sprout before planting, helping them on their way. Select your seed potatoes and position the eye-side up (the side with the most dents with small sprouts) in an empty egg box. Position this on a cool, well-lit windowsill, until their sprouts are each about 2.5 cm long.

At this point, they can be planted in the garden, from mid-March.

If you want to see how to prep your spuds for chitting, I have a handy video on my YouTube channel, . While the potatoes are chitting, choose where you want to plant them and prepare the ground.

A sunny spot is ideal, and most soils too, but try to neutralise alkaline soils if you can with some sulphate of iron. You can find out your soil’s pH by using a soil testing kit.

Dig a trench into your chosen spot between 10 and 13 cm deep. Space your chitted potatoes 30cm apart if you’re growing Earlies. Keep the shoots pointing upwards, handling them with care, and firm your potatoes in. Then, keep banking some earth over the emerging shoots as they grow.

This encourages more growth, as the shoots search for the light, and it provides extra frost protection. Water them regularly and wait until they can be harvested from June. If you don’t have any suitable ground space, they grow well in deep containers. I find old dustbins perfect. You could even use grow bags too. Good luck and let me know how you get on.

Top Five Gardening Jobs

• Now is a great time to check on your climbing plants, and ensure they’re secured. Winter comes with much changeable weather, including strong winds which may already have dislodged your climbers. Using garden twine, simply tie the plants’ stems to their support structures.
• Put rhubarb into the ground. Bare-root crowns are the best choice for planting at this time of year, available from mid-autumn to early spring. These should be planted as soon as they arrive, and in soil prepared with well-rotted manure. Aim for a mild day without any frost.

• Get control over your garden weeds now and it will benefit from it for the rest of the year. Weeds take up moisture, nutrients, and root space in the soil, all needed by newly establishing plants. Fork out perennial weeds, making sure you’ve removed the roots. Annual weeds are great for hoeing, just remove them by cutting the tops off.
• Getting your old garden beds in good condition ahead of the growing season will help you get the best out of your plants. Remove any plants you don’t want and then improve the quality of the available soil. You can do this with soil conditioners and organic matter, improving the drainage and available nutrition.
• Compost bins need attention throughout the year, so why not take the opportunity to start right now? One of the most important tasks to carry out is turning them several times a year – because this lets more air into the mix, preventing it from becoming stagnant. This can be easily done with a garden fork.

Did You Know?

Most butterflies’ taste buds are found on their feet. This is an asset to them, as they can ‘taste’ flowers as soon as they land on them. Therefore, they’re immediately informed of whether this plant is suitable for them to lay their eggs on. Why does this matter? Well, it needs to be safe for newly hatched caterpillars to eat!

Ribena is a nutritional drink we’ve been enjoying since the Second World War, and its name takes botanical inspiration. The name ‘Ribena’ is taken quite simply from the Latin Ribes, the name for blackcurrants. These fruits burst with the familiar flavour of Ribena, rich in vitamin C.

It might surprise you to know slugs have teeth. It may shock you more to find out how many. Some slugs are known to have up to 27,000 teeth, while garden slugs typically have up to 8,000. These are arranged on a ribbon-like structure, allowing them to break down food much like a cheese grater.

Cress is a great example of small but mighty. It contains more calcium than milk, more folate than banana, more Vitamin E than broccoli, and more vitamin C than an orange. It’s also rich in vitamin K, which is crucial for blood clotting and bone health.

Focus on: Roses

Roses remain one of the most popular flowering plants in the world, with a vast range of varieties and styles. From shrubs to climbers, ramblers, groundcover, standards and even miniature patio plants suitable for pots.

Quite simply, there is a rose for every purpose and every garden, balcony or patio.

Many will deliver a heavenly floral scent and rich green leaves, performing best in a sunny spot and when fed regularly with specialised rose fertiliser.

The flowers are available in many shades and shapes. Now is an ideal time to buy and add roses to your garden. There is just one rule: never plant a rose in a spot where you have previously grown one before. First, this ensures the rose-specific nutrients have not all been used up by previous plants.

Secondly, and more importantly, there is less risk of any underlying health problems still living in the soil. It’s always best to choose a fresh new location.

* If you want to find out everything about roses, I have a very informative video on my YouTube channel,