Hundreds of local school children visited Squire’s Garden Centres at the end of March to take part in a “Grow Your Own Chips” session. This initiative began because Squire’s "believe in the importance of children learning where their food comes from", so they invited local schools to come along for fun and interactive potato planting sessions.

Each child was given a brightly coloured pot, compost, and three chitted potatoes, which they were shown how to plant and look after. The children enjoyed drinks and biscuits after their hard work, and got to take their pot of potatoes home.

They’ll be bringing their pots back to Squire’s in June to see who has grown the heaviest potatoes, and to see if any of them have grown more than gardening expert Charlie Dimmock, who did this very activity at Squire’s in Woking on 17th March! Then each school will get their potatoes turned into chips in Squire’s Café Bar, and the winning child will also get a special goody bag.

Squire’s Top Tips For Growing Potatoes

Get a large pot (with drainage holes in the bottom) and half-fill with compost.

Plant 3 chitted potatoes in the pot, then cover with compost and water well.

Place the pot in a sunny spot where the potatoes will get enough light to grow.

Water when the compost beings to dry out, but be careful not to water too much.

Feed the potato plants every other week with potato fertiliser.

Add more soil to the pot as the plants begin to grow.

Harvest potatoes after the plant flowers and turns yellow, and see how many you have grown!