Seeds
The potatoes that we cook and eat are stores of starch grown by a potato plant as a way of surviving cold winters, when the leaves die. They are called tubers. Potato plants grow each spring from a small potato tuber which the farmer keeps from the year before. The farmer puts the seed potatoes in the light until they chit. This means they grow small white shoots. After chitting, the tubers are planted 15 cm deep in rich soil which has been ploughed. Compost or manure from farm animals is dug into the soil to make it fertile as potatoes need lots of nutrients to grow well.