Monty Dons new way of growing potatoes.

[Duke Ellington]

Did anyone see this on gardeners world. He sowed his Charlotte potatoes in a grid quite close together in a raised bed. No ridges. I must have missed something but did he say there will be no mulching or building of ridges???? I am a little confused. I am interested though as I use raised beds on my allotment and growing potatoes in them is always difficult.

Duke

[Duke Ellington]

[Froglegs]

It works for self sets!

[grannyjanny]

We don't ridge or earth up. OH plants them about 8" deep & we'll cover with grass cuttings & whatever else comes our way. We are all for the easy way of doing things. We're no dig & we find the weediest bed is always the one with potatoes in & it's the only one that's dug. Our daughter finds the same too

[Chrispy]

I only earth up a little as a way of clearing weeds. I have seen others who do the whole ridge thing, but they don't seem to get better crops.

We don't ridge or earth up. OH plants them about 8" deep & we'll cover with grass cuttings & whatever else comes our way. We are all for the easy way of doing things. We're no dig & we find the weediest bed is always the one with potatoes in & it's the only one that's dug. Our daughter finds the same too

My soil gets too compacted so it needs to be dug, but if you have a more sandy soil that does not get compacted, I don't see the point of digging it, you only bring more weed seeds to the surface.

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

I raised a query myself on this. I have a 4 ft bed system and only fit two rows along the bed for spuds so the grid interested me. Too late for this year as I had beaten him to it already by a week. They are showing their heads up nicely now and no immediate danger of frost here. Mulching is the obvious alternative to ridging I guess. I noticed he dug in each spud as he went. He must have the memory of a squirrel to get the spacings right. I would have laid each spud in position first before I buried any. I liked his tool as well. I expect a lot of ladies are nodding their heads at this.

[aj]

I have been growing like this for years; I use a bulb planter and the only 'ridging' is when I pull soil over the leaves before the last frost date. They go into a grid about 2-3 ft apart. It's not revolutionary until Monty does it, eh?

[caroline7758]

When was this on? I thought GW wasn't on last week because of the snooker?

[Chrispy]

Yes, it was the episode 2 weeks ago, still on i-player if you missed it, but the bit about the spuds is just a very small piece at the end of the program.

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

"They go into a grid about 2-3 ft apart"

That's not very different to two rows on a 4 ft bed. Were I to try this I'd be tempted to put them closer than that.

[caroline7758]

Yes, it was the episode 2 weeks ago, still on i-player if you missed it, but the bit about the spuds is just a very small piece at the end of the program.

Maybe I nodded off!

[grannyjanny]

It's so riveting I usually fall asleep too. OH records it but I don't always watch it.

[Chrispy]

"They go into a grid about 2-3 ft apart"

That's not very different to two rows on a 4 ft bed. Were I to try this I'd be tempted to put them closer than that.

I plant mine 1ft apart in rows 2 1/2 ft apart, so what you say seems wrong.
I have just watched the bit again, he actualy said 9 inch to 1 ft apart.

[Duke Ellington]

Yes but what do you do once they start to produce leaves? He didn't seem to plant them all that deep?

Duke

[Tulipa]

I just re-watched it twice and yes 9" to a foot was what he said, I too am thinking of doing this now, thanks for reminding me :-)

[Tulipa]

Hopefully  if he does anything he will show us......

[Duke Ellington]

Tulipa I am counting on you to let me know what Monty does......

Duke

[davejg]

I grew  kestrel (2nd early) and Armour (maincrop) this way last year. 8x4 bed 3 across and 8 along Had a fabulous crop of Kestrel loads all fist sized. unfortunately the armour got hit badly by blight but the few i did get were a good size to. They were planted with a bulb planter and didnt touch them after that, for feed they had a bag of 6x per bed and some good scoops of chook poo pellets. this year everything is going in the same way on the new plot but a lot o freshish horse muck was dug in at Christmas so we will see how it goes as they are now up and looking good.

[bionear2]

I did not see the programme, but would guess that his bed had enough depth to bury the potatoes quite deep. If you take Charlottes out as small salad potatoes, that would probably give you a successful modest crop. If you wanted to let them grow-on, to become more like a main-crop, they would need more depth to contain the bulk of the tubers.

[chriscross1966]

I guess a lot of peopole won't be growing anything other than earlies this year becasue of last years problems... if you think about the container growing methosd that have you putting four or five tubers in something half the size of a dustbin in terms of height then 9" apart sounds about right... he's treating the bed as a big pot... Must admit I put them in my fathers way, about 16" apart in rows 2 foot apart rotovate trenches in, place spuds in trench (or get his then young son to put potatoes in trench, then rotor down the ridges so the earth falls back over the top of them.... worked for him, I don't remember seeing any fragments of spud flying back at me so I guess I got them in cleanly.... fingers crossed...

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

9inches apart in a grid sounds better and it would make better use of the bed than my current rows. They would have to go deepish if ridges can't be pulled over them; that plus mulching. Too late this year but I will do it next year