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Is chitting potatoes worth it? Yes,
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that's cheating potatoes. And welcome to
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Gardening with Ben. Today we're going to
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talk about chitting your potatoes and
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whether it's actually worth it. Chitting
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means when you pop them in an egg carton
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or a seed tray and put them in a light
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cool area for them to start sprouting.
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You don't want them to sprout loads and
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get leggy or it can cause stress on the
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potato and you don't get as good crops.
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Sometimes when you go into the garden
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centers, you'll see loads of shoots on
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them and that is when they've been in a
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dark area and yeah, they can struggle
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when they're grown like that. So don't
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put them in a dark space because that
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won't help them whatsoever. They need a
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light cool area. And we've got ours in
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our poly tunnel in a mini greenhouse
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where we've been chitting them for a
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couple of weeks now. And we will be
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planting these on Good Friday. I always
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plant my potatoes on Good Friday even
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though it changes every year. It's an
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old gardener's tale to plant them on
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Good Friday. It's to do with the moon
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and yeah, I've always stuck to that
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rule. So yeah, we hopefully will get a
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great crop this year. We always get a
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good crop every single year. Now I'm
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going to be growing my potatoes in
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containers as I don't like them in the
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ground because why worm get them? Slugs
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get them and you end up stabbing them as
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well when you're digging them up which I
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absolutely hate because you've lost a
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potato and I end up stabbing more than I
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actually harvest. So, let's have a look
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at what our potatoes look like in our
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So, these are all the potatoes that
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we've got. Now, we got these from
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Jameson Brothers and we've got four
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varieties. We got a different variety as
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well, which weren't from Jameson's
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Brothers, but hopefully we'll get some
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great crops from that as well. So, we've
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got four varieties. We've also got a red
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variety and I've got my Charlotte
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variety, which I love, absolutely love.
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We've got Maris Piper, uh, obviously a
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well-known one. So hopefully we get some
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great potatoes from these. Now, as you
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can see, we've put them up. We've got
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this eyes facing up so that they can
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sprout and get started. Obviously,
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they're kept in this mini greenhouse to
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keep them um dry and not get too damp or
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moist because we don't want that and we
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don't want them rotting. So, they are
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doing pretty well in this greenhouse.
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So, like I said, we'll be putting those
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out to plant on Good Friday. I once had
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them in my shed and the squirrels and
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the mice or rats ate them, which wasn't
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very good at all. And yeah, I ended up
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with hardly any potatoes last year, so
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we made sure they're secure in this mini
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greenhouse so nothing can get to them.
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Fingers crossed the squirrels won't bite
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through the plastic. But yeah, so far so
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good. They're all still there.
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You don't have to chit your potatoes,
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but chitting also speeds up the time of
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harvest. You'll be harvested them a few
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weeks earlier than you would do if you
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just planted them straight in the
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ground. So, if you want an earlier
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harvest, that is one of the reasons why
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they ch them and it forms the sprouts,
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which helps them get the growing
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started. So, yeah, it speeds them up a
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little bit and that's why we do it. So,
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you don't have to chit them. It's just
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one thing that I've always done. Not
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everybody chits the potatoes. Um, but
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it's something that I always do and it's
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something I look forward to it because
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that's one of the first jobs that I do
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in the a lotment in the new year and
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it's exciting to get started because I
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don't start a lot of my seeds off until
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March time. So yeah, that is the reason
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why we start chitting. So make sure you
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drop us a follow to see when we plant
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all our potatoes. Until next time
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everyone, remember keep smiling, keep
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shining and keep gardening with Ben
