I KNOW a lot of people are planning to plant potatoes for the first time this year — not necessarily for the sheer joy of growing your own, but more likely because Britain currently has the world’s most depressed major economy. (Jeremy’s fault, no doubt.)

Like any other national obsession, spuds have gathered a certain amount of jargon over the centuries, and I thought it might be helpful for the potato novice to look at some of the terms they’re likely to encounter.

You’ll be starting your crop in late winter or early spring by buying “seed potatoes” — which are not seeds, of course. They’re potatoes, just as you’d buy to eat, but they’ve been raised to be, and are certified to be, free of viral disease.

Spuds potentially suffer from a number of crop-ruining diseases, and if you use tubers bought for food (“ware potatoes”), or your own tubers saved from last year‘s crop, there is no way you can know whether or not they are carrying viruses. 

Of course, as the old proverb goes, “needs must when the devil of Downing Street drives,” so some people do use non-certified potatoes as seed, and some people get away with it.

Each seed tuber will produce one potato plant, which in turn (and with luck) will yield numerous tubers for eating.

When you start looking at the catalogues to choose which seed to buy (www.potatohouse.co.uk, for instance, offers a good range), you’ll usually find them divided into three categories: First Early, Second Early, Maincrop.

If you were to plant all these on the same day they would still be ready for harvest at different times.

First Earlies are the familiar “new potatoes,” generally producing small, waxy tubers, good for steaming, boiling and for salads. 

They take around 12 weeks to grow. Firsts don’t store well, so only grow as many as you can eat fresh. Second Earlies — well, the name gives you a clue. 

They take a few weeks longer than First Earlies to mature, becoming available in midsummer. Although they also produce new potatoes, some of them can be left to grow on for use as bakers or roasters.

Maincrop potatoes are the big, floury ones we buy to bake, roast and mash in autumn and winter.

They’ll be ready for harvest mostly from August to October, and the key difference to them is that under the right conditions they can be stored for many weeks after digging up.

Chitting is a word you’re going to run into as soon as you start growing potatoes. It’s the process of giving seed tubers a head start by standing them up in trays, in a room that’s cool and light, encouraging them to produce stubby, green shoots (“chits”).

Most home-growers do it, and most couldn’t tell you why.

The chitting controversy is too complex for this column. It’s probably worth reading up on — but not yet. For your first potato year, forget I ever mentioned it, and good luck.