Time to sprout or "chit" potatoes. Place them in a single layer in a tray in a cool, airy, bright place with the "eyes" uppermost. Plant them out in a few weeks when the sprouts are 2 cm long. Cover their emerging shoots (with soil, straw or horticultural fleece) if frost threatens. Irish Potato Marketing are supplying 2 kilo boxes to some garden centres with about 40 tubers per box. Varieties include the Irish types: Ambo, Barna, Cara, Colleen, Orla (a new early variety), Burren and Rooster. Telephone IPM (01-2827600) for details of suppliers.
Mackey's in Sandycove have ten-tuber packs of the following non-Irish favourites: Rocket, Maris Piper, Charlotte, Carlingford, Foremost, Wilja and Valour.
