Advice on potato pit

[Karen Atkinson]

How have people planted their chitted potatoes? Only just doing so now (live in frozen NorthEast) and I've seen a few allotment guys here digging a trench and placing kitchen waste plus ripped up newspaper at the bottom, adding a few chicken pellets and covering with a layer of earth upon which their spuds sit. Is this how others do it too? Are there other methods to plant them in the ground? I guess they're trying to avoid manure as some of them had a problem last season though I thought you weren't supposed to manure a potato bed...

[Karen Atkinson]

[Robert_Brenchley]

Most of mine are in, and I'm currently preparing a bed for the last of them. I plant them on the flat, with a trowel, and cover them with six inches of mulch.

[Deb P]

I treat my potatoes quite meanly........they do get a nicely manured bed to start off with that had been left overwinter, but then just get buried, a bit of organic fertiliser strewn on the backfill and earthed up once when the foliage is showing........they do ok! ;D

[sawfish]

I go for compost mixed with manure with potato fertilizer and straw plus this year a bit of bonemeal, just a wee bit. I've put wilted comfrey in too but there's none up yet this year. I always put my potato's in or below my manure etc because they grow up not down so any manure/compost below is wasted.
I also earth up my potato's to a peak so I better know where they are and so they get a bit of added protection from frosts.

[Karen Atkinson]

gosh, they do grow up not down...I hadn't thought of this..truly...I know this sounds very naiive but where do they take in their water and nutrients then? Is it through their foliage?

[davyw1]

I to are also in the sunny north east ( my nose is growing) and most of my spud are in, i do much the same as others all my manure goes on top with some growmore filled and earthed up As for watering where does water go when it hit the soil, gravity always wins

[jennym]

..where do they take in their water and nutrients then? Is it through their foliage?

Think I'd be right in saying that all plants take in water and nutrients through their roots. It is possible to feed plants with a foliar feed (water on a dilute soluble feed to the leaves) and some nutrients may be taken down into the plant this way, but think that in nature it's usually via the root system.
Some folk put newspaper and other water retaining stuff down before planting if they have soil that dries out too easily in summer, I'm on a dampish clay soil here so don't. I just dig in some rotted horse muck before planting anything. Also had success by just placing the potatoes in my ditches (which are about a foot deep) and filling up the ditches with muck & soil. Theye were dead easy to harvest, and kept the ditches clear of weeds. The way they are doing it on your site seems fine to me too.