<div style="page-break-before:always; page-break-after:always">YOU say &lsquo;potayto&rsquo;, I say &lsquo;potahto&rsquo; &hellip; and for the record, botanists prefer &lsquo;underground storage tuber&rsquo;. Whatever you call them, homegrown spuds are wrapped with more words than Friday night&rsquo;s fish &rsquo;n&rsquo; chips. One of the most unusual is &lsquo;chit&rsquo; which, though it sounds like something a bear might do in the woods, was common parlance in the 17th century for &lsquo;new shoot&rsquo; or &lsquo;sprouting stem&rsquo;. And in tater-talk, that&rsquo;s what it still means today. Chitting &ndash; encouraging tubers to develop short &frac34;in (2cm) sprouts before planting &ndash; has the potential to quicken their time to harvest and simply involves setting the spuds out in a cool, frost-free and bright spot. Like daffodil bulbs, seed potatoes grow whichever way up they are planted but, for the strongest shoots, put the end with the most &lsquo;eyes&rsquo; (aka the &lsquo;proximal end&rsquo; or &lsquo;rose end&rsquo;) so it is pointing towards the sky.Each eye is a potential new plant, and the more plants that burgeon from a single seed spud, the greater the number of salad-sized potatoes you&rsquo;ll harvest. Rub off all but three-five eyes, and you&rsquo;ll end up with fewer but larger bakers, simply because the stems aren&rsquo;t crowded and the spuds have legroom to swell.&lsquo;Seed potato&rsquo; is another confusing potato term, as they are not seeds but actual potatoes raised from quarantined, disease-free stock. These &lsquo;seeds&rsquo; often hark from farms in Scotland, where the winter cold kills virus-spreading aphids.In gardens and farms in the south, aphids and the crop-destroying diseases they carry are more prevalent, and while affected spuds saved or bought from a supermarket are fine to eat, if re-grown, chances are they&rsquo;ll come to nothing and spread disease to neighboring rows.As seed spuds are relatively expensive, an old trick to get more patahtas for your pesetas is to cut the chitted spuds in half, making two tubers from each. Once planted, the fleshy seed rots away, but not before they have boosted the shoots&rsquo; initial growth. So, although tempting, never cut your seed spuds into anything smaller, or your tatties will be tiddlers and you might as well call the whole thing off.Toby&rsquo;s top tips<img src="https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/5171/424143/5e79c5b0e9628/1585038584811.jpg"" owidth=307 oheight=216" style="width: 307px; height: 216px;" />1 To divide seed potatoes, use a sharp knife and cut between the eyes on the top of the tuber down to the base.<img src="https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/5171/424143/5e79c5b0e9628/1585038584839.jpg"" owidth=307 oheight=216" style="width: 307px; height: 216px;" />2 Leave in a dry, bright spot to allow the severed surfaces to dry and seal before planting.

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Amateur Gardening

To dig or not to dig?

The box ball blues

Save your own seeds

Strange sightings

A bolt from the blue!

Winter moth prevention

Create a winter container

Lightweight gardening tools

Autumn price round-up

Rudbeckias

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