Today I put the seed potatoes in the conservatory to sprout or ‘chit’ as it is known in gardening circles. However, it is rather cold at the moment, particularly at night and I don’t want them to freeze, so I will cover them with newspaper each evening as the temperature drops.

Placing them close together in seed trays with their ‘eyes’ upwards does the trick, and soon I expect they’ll be sprouting happily. Now this job is done I really feel like the gardening year has started.

The final total was 36 Arran Pilot (1st early), 29 Pentland Javelin (1st early) and 54 Desiree (main crop) making a grand total of 119. Last year we had 155 and the year before that 164! A bit excessive I think.

The Desiree are all good medium sized potatoes, the AP and PJ are much bigger and I would say of a poorer quality. Some are so big I will probably cut them in half when I plant them.

It felt really good to get outside after this week of grotty weather, so I decided to make the most of it and took the opportunity to brush up the leaves by the backdoor. I used to be very keen and sweep them up almost as they fell, but I soon learnt that when I did that in Autumn, the wind just replaced them time after time, so it’s best to wait until this time of year, when hopefully most have blown elsewhere and rotted. Gardening is hard enough, no point in making work.

Then I sowed some leek seeds, I’ve never grown these before. I played it safe and went for ‘Musselburgh’ which according to the packet is an old and reliable variety.

I sowed them in modules and placed them, covered, on top of the central heating boiler for bottom heat. 20 modules with 4 seeds in each. Well that’s what it’s supposed to be, but my eyesight’s not what it was, so there could be 3 in some and 5 or 6 in others! Anyway 2 – 3 weeks from now I should know.