Topic: dont panic!!!

[gayle]

ive been reading that you can plant potatoes now, but im not ready yet, can i plant potatoes in couch infested ground?
Ive been told that they clear the ground, is this right?
If you put potatoes down now would they be earlys?

As you can read im new to all this, i wanted to grow potatoes but i thought you did not plant till spring next year!
So far ive got some leeks and a few purple sprouting broc.

[wardy]

You can buy spuds from Fothergills etc for planting out now so the idea is you have spuds in time for Christmas.  If you have nowhere ready to plant them you could put three or so in a tub as I am doing  :) 

I grew my early and maincrop spuds on top of cardboard and manure, covered over with black sheet mulch and planted the spuds through holes I'd made in it.  this just saves digging and weeding which I don't like doing  :)

[amphibian]

ive been reading that you can plant potatoes now, but im not ready yet, can i plant potatoes in couch infested ground?
Ive been told that they clear the ground, is this right?
If you put potatoes down now would they be earlys?

As you can read im new to all this, i wanted to grow potatoes but i thought you did not plant till spring next year!
So far ive got some leeks and a few purple sprouting broc.

I have heard that both potatoes and brassicas help clear couch, I am planting brassicas in dense soil which has only been vaguely cleared of couch. So I hope it works out.

[wardy]

Mine's not been cleared of couch.  Thought the cardboard, manure, spuds and black plastic on it for about 5 months might have had some effect but no  :)  It's rearing its ugly head now the placcy has come off

I think I shall put covering back over til my brassicas arrive as so it doesn't get any worse  :)

[daveandtara]

clear a space and try anything!
i've just planted some potatos for xmas, another row of kohl rabi, some weird looking french beans (a freebie from HDRA ) and i'll be sowing onions soon and have ordered the brassica collection from dobies to go in next month.
we're new to this too and have decided to use the rest of the year as a sort of experiment!
just clear a small patch, then shove something in it to grow and move on to the next patch. before you know it, yours will look like a 'proper' allotment!  ;D
good luck, Tara xx

[wardy]

Hear, hear.  I thought it was just me  ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've grown spuds through couch, not very successfully as there was probably too much competion, unless the soil was knackered, but I got a crop. After another five years of weeding and mulching, I'm getting far better crops and NO WIREWORMS! The latter could be your biggest problem as they love grass, and a few years back many of my potatoes came out looking like sponges. But try it and see.

[amphibian]

Having just lifted turf we have a few wireworms. I say a few I have pulled about 5 out, I have no idea what constitutes a infestation.

[wardy]

I think with the soil not having been dug it will be like a thick mat of couch roots but I grew the spuds in the manure rather than the soil so I got away with it  :)  The cardboard I put over the top of the ground first held the couch at bay for long enough for me to grow and harvest my spuds without it causing any problems whatsoever.  I was quite pleased with the no dig thing as it saved me digging or weeding and I got food  :)

[daveandtara]

what do fireworms look like?
and why are they called fireworms? (they sound painful  :-\)

[jennym]

what do fireworms look like?
and why are they called fireworms? (they sound painful  :-\)

Wireworm pic on this link:
http://www.blackthornarable.co.uk/photography/Pests/IMG_wirewormS60.jpg

[daveandtara]

nope. seen none of those. mind you, i've not seen any worms at all on our plot!
assuming all beastie type things return after the drought, do fireworms bite/sting/burn people? or is it only spuds?
thanks (slightly paranoid) Tara xx

[gayle]

ive got wireworns :'( something else to worry about.
Another qestion about couch grass im afraid.
How far do you dig down to pull out the couch roots?
Im going down a fork and a bit down, but theres still couch root below that, if i dig any deeper people will think im trying to dig to australlia ;)

[Robert_Brenchley]

Couch grass is normally shallow rooted, but it's horribly easy to dig the roots in deeper if you miss them. They shouldn't go too far down unless your predecessor was a masochistic double digger.

[bupster]

I've got quite a bit of couch on the paths, especially the ones at the side where the plot wasn't rotavated. Should I be panicking about this? I'm just trying to dig a bed at a time, plant some stuff, clear some brambles, scratch my head and stare at the half a shed, etc.

[redimp]

You, and I, will be battling couch for some time.  I am sure that if I was able to dig over my entire plt twice in a week I might beat it quickly.  Until then I am going to have to put up with a bit of spread from the undug areas and hope that I do get on top of it in time.  I am currently expecting that the couch nightmare will become a memory by this time next year and that it will be sporadic outbreaks I then have to deal with.

[bupster]

I'll carry on as I am, then! :D

[wardy]

Stop worrying about couch.  It's a fact of life and you can be rooting it out til you pop this mortal coil  ;D

[amphibian]

I have been digging down to my subsoil, piling the earth up to one side and then hand sifting it back into the hole. My neighbours all came over asking what on earth I was doing, then all agreed that they wish they had done the same. I'm not stressing about the couch, it is everywhere.

As I mentioned earlier, on River Cottage Hugh produces prize winning vegetables, in his first season, from soil infested with couch and ground elder, and he does it with such ease he doesn't even mention there being a problem.