“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous” Aristotle

For those of you who have planted potatoes, you’re probably familiar with the term “chitting,” in reference to growing potatoes. Everyone has had a potato in the bin or bag sprout and send out those long, white shoots. That’s what you don’t want, but when you chit your potatoes in spring, you do want to encourage those eyes to turn green and start to grow. This is supposed to give your potatoes a head start when you put them in the ground.

Usually in the spring, our potatoes go into a tray and sit in the bright light and gradually the eyes wake up and start to turn green. Recently, as many people have been doing, we’ve been watching gardening videos on YouTube. One such video suggested a better way to chit so we tried it. Instead of leaving the potatoes out in the light, you place them in a tray with some dirt on the bottom, cover them lightly with more dirt. So we tried it.

We placed some of the same types of potato, Butter Ball, from The Maine Potato Lady, in a tray in the greenhouse, and another group in a tray with dirt and left them the same amount of time. The dirt tray we placed in the dark, cool basement. Here is the result.

The potatoes on the bottom with no roots and only teensy tiny green eyes were from the tray in the light of the greenhouse. The potatoes covered with roots were in the dirt.

I’d say that’s a pretty big difference. Now that we have our “chit” together, maybe we can grow some nice potatoes!