Now is the time to buy your seed potatoes – though they are not actually seeds at all.

They are swollen stem tubers but for some reason we refer to them as seeds. When looking to grow potatoes you will find they come in all shapes and colours though most us associate the traditional potatoes with a golden-brown skin with a white centre which we use to boil, roast, chip, mash or bake.

In the main, potatoes will be either a first early variety (mainly grown as new potatoes) or second early, the larger new potatoes, or maincrop potatoes, the large ones we use for roasting and chips.

Now, however, we have a range of ‘Extra’ early first potatoes which are planted in late March and produce the earliest possible new potato crops and are ideal for growing in a cold polytunnel or under cloches. They can be grown in the open, but as they grow make sure you earth them up to help protect the foliage or cover with a layer of garden fleece.

Traditionally, first early potatoes are planted on Good Friday, though both first and second early potatoes need to be ‘chitted’ before planting. This is where we encourage the eyes to develop a small sprout. As you can see from my photograph this week I have my seed potatoes in trays in my spare bedroom which is providing a little warmth and light to help develop the sprouts. The potato tubers are placed ‘rose end’ upright as this is the end where the most of the potato eyes are located.

As the eyes begin to develop sprouts, the seed potatoes themselves will become shrivelled and crinkly as the tuber loses moisture and the tuber will turn green due to being in the light. Don’t worry – this is normal.

Although I have my seed potatoes in the spare bedroom, they can be placed in a shed, greenhouse or outhouse as long it is frost-free and light. They cannot be chitted in a dark room or the potato eyes will produce elongated white shoots – not what we want at all. When we come to plant the seed potatoes, we remove the shoots leaving three for growing on.

However, for maincrop potatoes we do not chit the seed potatoes – simply plant them directly into the ground. The larger the potatoes we want, the further apart we plant the tubers, so first early potatoes can be planted pretty close as long as you leave enough space between the rows to earth up the rows.

Maincrop potatoes require a lot more space than early potatoes, and the same number of seed potatoes will take up a lot more space in the garden.

Potatoes like to grow in fertile soil, one which has been recently prepared with added manure over the winter. Applying garden lime will help to combat slugs and will help if the soil is a bit on the heavy side. This needs to be applied now, not at the time of planting, though at the time of planting you can apply a specific potato fertiliser. However, I’ve always applied fish, blood and bone fertiliser and had excellent results.

The point is that they will benefit from and give a bigger harvest if you do feed them.

You don’t need to have an allotment or a large garden to grow potatoes – a number of online suppliers now sell ‘Potato kits’ which consist of a large container and a few seed potatoes. In effect it’s a large bucket with drain holes that you partly fill with compost. You then plant the seed potatoes after you have chitted them and then top up the container with compost as the potato foliage grows.

In my opinion, the taste of freshly harvested potatoes is far superior to shop-bought ones every time.

Varieties I am growing this year include the ‘International Kidney’ (which is the Jersey Royal potato, but we cannot call it that unless it’s grown in Jersey, so outside Jersey its called the ‘International Kidney’).

I’m also growing a black potato called ‘Shetland Black’, a red one called ‘Highland Burgundy’ and a blue one called ‘Sarpo Blue Danube’ which should make an interesting multi-coloured plate of chips!