Topic: Couch Grass

[DarkSkies]

I say cooch you say cowch...

My plot is gradually getting dug but will take a good time yet to clear, however short of carpetting/black bagging the rest to help retuce top growth is it worth sticking in tatties.  The plot is awash with couch grass which I am hand forking out but i will have room for earlies in the undug part.  Now would this area have to be cleared first or would the tatties suppress the surrounding weeds?  I heard the couch can spike thro even spuds.

Sorry if this is a daft question but I have heard many tales.

[RSJK]

you call it Couch l call it twitch, l am affraid it is no good putting potatoes in , it will grow through them.  I know it is a lot of hard work but it is worth doing the job correctly and clearing the ground, it will be worth it in the end,sorry there is no easy solution.   :-[

[gavin]

An immediate reaction - I'm with Richard.  Looking at my potatoes on a dug and cleared bed, they won't suppress couch.  And yes, couch roots treat potato tubers as if they weren't there - they'll spear them straight through, end to end!

But something I haven't tried - cut off the weed growth, lay thick black polythene, and plant potatoes through the slits?  If it works, you clear the weeds with the polythene, and get a crop of potatoes?  Haven't a clue if it would work or not - any "no-diggers" around?

All best - Gavin

[gavin]

Hmm - thanks for reminding me, Dark Skies - there's a really good article on the Irish "Lazy Beds" in The Kitchen Gardener (April 2002) with lots of good piccies.  Looks like you can grow pots in a grass bed.

I'll work on summarising it in the next half-hour - but can't do the pics, though!  Sorry

All best - Gavin

[gavin]

Summarised from "Bedmaking made easy", by Joyce Russell (in The Kitchen Garden, #55, of April, 2002)

"Lazy Beds" - most commonly planted with potatoes, but most other crops (brassicas, onions, courgettes, French beans, lettuce) all do well.  Not root crops, though - so no carrots.

On light sandy soils, they help retain moisture in the heart of the bed, while on heavy clay soils, they will improve drainage.  

How to do it?

• Cut down any tall growth, and mow the grass if possible; dig out thistles and docks.  Peg out your bed with string, aiming for evenly spaced, equally proportioned ridges.  Follow the slope, so that water drains away rather than getting trapped between the ridges (my question - even on dry sandy soils?)
  
• Lay a thick layer of manure or compost in a line, straight on to the ground - about 2ft 6in wide, and as long as you wish.  Allow 18 inches of clear ground on each side of the line of manure.
  
• Plant your potatoes, tucking them under the manure, in two rows, at least 4 inches in from the side of the manure - you might want to stagger the rows, to get the wider spacings for maincrop potatoes.
  
• On one side of the bed, cut a straight line with a spade, parallel to and 18 inches away from the manure edge.
  
• Now start at the top of the bed, and make two parallel cuts at right angles to this line, from the line to the manure edge.  Use the uncut turf at the manure edge as a hinge, and fold the cut sod over the top of the manure.  The folded sod should cover half of your manure row.
  
• Work all the way along one side of the bed in this way, and then back the other side.  Try to keep the two sides of the bed parallel.
  
• Dig the newly exposed soil from each side of the lazy bed, and turn it on top of the turned sods - aim for a nice level surface, with a good covering of soil, and flatten the top with back of your spade.  One "lazy bed" - finished!  How many more do you have to do?
  
• As the potatoes grow, earth them up with more soil from between the beds.  If weeds push through the sides of the lazy bed, pull them out while the potatoes are small.  You'll need to do this every ten days or so, at least until the haulms are big enough to smother weeds themselves.  If you have time, it's worth removing really nasty weeds.  Or use a plastic mulch.
  
• Harvest the crop by digging carefully from the side - and remove any remaining weeds.  Then turn the soil from the beds back into the hollows - result?  One level of plot of cultivated soil.
  

Worth a go?  If you do, I'd love to know how it goes!!!

All best - Gavin

PS Dark Skies --------> any connection? http://www.dark-skies.org/