living off the grid..ish

[Paul in the woods]

I guess you just mulch the growing spuds with compost and pull the tubers out with the plant at harvest?

 

Although I'm working towards no-dig its not without problems. Firstly I needed to remove a fair bit of blackthorn, now I'm digging out bindweed etc. When I've look into what some of the most well known no-dig proponents do it becomes clear they use vast amounts of compost which isn't always easy or desirable to get hold of. There's still a risk of introducing persistent herbicides into the garden and I'm not keen on the glass, plastic and god knows what else in municipal compost. Hence making my own but that's taken a few years to do.

[trigger_andy]

I mean, there's nothing stopping you from googling "potatoes no dig", if you were really that interested. 
A few guys and I were doing some experiments on no dig potatoes at a well-known organic growery. Yields were identical, labour greatly reduced.

Well I had a look. Very interesting I must say and I’ll give it a go this season. What caught my attention was the use of grass clippings to hold the straw down. We have a fair bit of lawn so a significant amount of clippings to dispose of. Ideal solution.

I like how the expert in the article plants his “no dig” potatoes after he’s dug out his Parsnips so the soils already loosened/broken up. I’ll still get to break out the Howard after all. [emoji16]

Growing Potatoes the No-Dig Way

WWW.GROWVEG.CO.UK

---

Growing potatoes can be hard work but it doesn't have to be that way. Using the no-dig (lasagne) method and following some simple steps can yield a wonderful harvest and remove the need to weed them.

[Guest Gimlet]

What about earthing up spuds? Just keep adding compost?

[RickandMorty]

I have lost of patatoes growing at the moment. Some in grow bags (doing amazing) but the ones I have growing in those plastic 40L tubs from wickes are not growing at all. I have put holes in the tubs for drainage. The seed patatoes all came from the same pack.

[RickandMorty]

*lots of.

[RickandMorty]

@Paul in the woods   Bindweed is a pain, I decided to nuke mine I kept digging it out then covered the areas for a whole year then planted the next year all fine then this year its gone nuts again.

 

I got a poop load of this stuff as well ..I dug six shovels down and the roots are still going, this and bind weed has gone nuts 

 

 

[Paul in the woods]

34 minutes ago, RickandMorty said:

I got a poop load of this stuff as well ..I dug six shovels down and the roots are still going, this and bind weed has gone nuts

Blame the Italians for that, it looks like ground elder, introduced by the Romans as food but is very invasive. Personally I don't use weed killers so digging out carefully and pulling out fresh growth is my main method of attack.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Paul in the woods

[Paul in the woods]

3 hours ago, Gimlet said:

What about earthing up spuds? Just keep adding compost?

In the article Trig posted they just use straw and grass cuttings. I would wonder how the spurs taste, I have found just grown in multi-purpose compost the spuds don't taste as good as ones grown in soil, but that may just be me. I do earth up my spuds and then mulch with grass clippings. That keeps the moisture in, light out and is a quick way to add organic matter to my poor soil.

[RickandMorty]

@Paul in the woods

 

Makes sense as where I live is known as little Italy 🤣

 

I have been earth up as the leaves grow  but the ones in the 40L have not leaves. Will see

[david lawrence]

Do you use fresh grass clippings

and

keep it away from potatoe stalks?

or can you just heap it on regardless

thonking about heat coming from clippings 

or

use older clippings