I was told to grow potateos in ground that had never had anything grown in it before except grass as this is supposed to clean the soil and prepare it , is this right and what deos this mean? I was hoping to plant strawberries, blueberries and blackberries as soon as the frosts are over this year.
i have no idea why but I was given same advice. It may be that tatties don't take as much out of the soil.
I put in a couple of beds of them last year .
Mags
You will be told by old gardeners to grow potatoes first as they are supposed to clean the ground........!
However to grow your spuds on your overgrown allotment, you first have to cut it down to size, then you have to double dig it all over taking out as much weed root as possible, this is followed by a period of earthing up the potatoes as they show through to protect them from frost and encourage growth into the ridge for bigger crops. As you hoe and rake away you take out more weeds, finally you then dig the whole plot over again when you dig the spuds up, and as it's your first crop you don't want to miss a single spud so you go over it all very carefully, again of course removing any small weeds or roots you find.....
Viola! The Potatoes have 'cleaned' the plot and it is weed free for your second year of growing! In addition your back is considerably stronger from all the digging and weeding you have just done! ;D
Quote from: mitzzy on February 13, 2006, 23:23:10
i have no idea why but I was given same advice. It may be that tatties don't take as much out of the soil.
I put in a couple of beds of them last year .
Mags
Potatoes are very hungry and take a lot out of the soil, but potato haulms suppress weeds, and the ground will be thoroughly dug over when harvesting.
Growing tatties helps break up the soil, or more accurately you break up the soil by digging trenches to plant them in, and then by earthing them up (drawing the soil up around them). The foliage is quite dense and helps surpress weed growth.
You can plant the fruit more or less when you want as long as the ground isn't frozen, it's probably best to get your blackberries in as soon as possible. Strawberries like a bit of frost (so I've read somewhere) so it does no harm to put them in as well. Blueberries need acid soil, so if you haven't got it plant them in tubs with ericacious compost.
The only drawback with potatoes in newly dug ground is that they're likely to be eaten alive by wireworm. It took five years or so before I could grow decent spuds.
I could start a car battery company with the acid in my soil, that was the idea behind blueberries, (and to keep budding Titchmarsh busy and away from sweets ;D) I think I'll forget potateos this year and concentrate on fruit, as I have a 20x5m safe play area/seating area/ lazydays area to sort out this year as well as the fruit and veg plot. I apprieciate those who answered my question and will take the advice on board, thanks :)
Sounds like your berries will enjoy your soil, and you'll enjoy your berries scotch-mist. Ignore the spud lovers, cover the grass with compost or mulch, sheet over, and plant through holes. No dig, no weeds, yum crop. Voila!
(Hides in black plastic tent to avoid thrown spuds lol)
In my experience growing potatoes is very good for weedy ground, and I endorse the previous posters. We had a lot of couch grass areas in our plot and we have grown potatoes on each of them. Just roughly digging the ground before digging the trenches and putting the potatoes in. As Reedos and digswell have said, it does involve earthing up and digging out the potatoes which helps but I do think the potato growth does break the soil up too and the ground cover of foliage does impede any new growth of weeds. It seems a shame not to have potatoes your first season as there is nothing like the taste of your own home grown ones. It is a pleasure to dig them up. :) busy_lizzie
Yes I'm about to plant potatoes in new and about to be cleared plot and use the old tended plot for alll the new things folk have suggested i grow like celeriac and sweetcorn and pumpkins.
Spuds are great, but they are a lot of work so I reckon its worth working out some lazy ideas.
I plant a second early which, as the name suggests, can be harvested early on in the year. I don't know if it makes any difference but I guessed that maybe having them spend less time in the ground means that they are around for less time to get munched by bugs and beasts. The variety I use, which are called Accent, don't seem to get troubled by slugs much anyway.
The first tip I was told was, don't put em in that deep, unless you want to dig down deep to get them out.
The second tip was, plant them as close together as you can get away with because you don't want to have to dig very far along the trench before you reach the next plant - it just makes more work and weeds grow up in the gaps.
The third thing was that if you cover them with a lot of heavy earth, then you are going to have to dig them out from a lot of heavy earth. With that in mind I try to avoid putting too much effort into heaping soil up into ridges, but cover round the plants with a lasagna of grass clippings, straw, sheets of newspaper, some old compost and just a a couple of shovels of soil - to hold it all down.
If I dig them out by the end of June I find I can clear the patch before the potato blight turns up and I've got some good broken up ground with lots of organic matter in it for planting leeks and other winter crops.
Great suggestions John.
I plant them on the flat, in blocks, and cover them with six inches of mulch. It works fine. Last year I got blight on my tomatoes, and never a sign of it on the spuds.
Last year put my maincrops in a bit of my plot that hadn't been dug - but covered the area with cardboard and manure about 6 weeks before, then planted through that. Then sort of mulched up as others have said rather than earthing. The manure was quite fresh but tatties didn't seem to mind. Had better crop than the year before when we put them in newly dug ground, also as people have said by the time we cropped them everything had been mostly incorporated, and soil texture was great. Spent yesterday afternoon cardboarding and barrowing on the second plot I've just got - not cultivated for several years - in the hope that the overall digging will be reduced. Also planning to grow lots of pumpkins/squashes - another good weed suppressant once they get going!
Good tip, Periwinkle. I'm planting pumpkins as well as potatoes so I'll get busy with cardboard and manure. What sort of depth of manure are you talking here?
Hi grawrc! Thickly - we are lucky - stables across the way and they deliver on our site - so I just pile it on, several inches certainly. Sorry to be vague - I have in mind that St Bob F. says 1' or so.
Ah but he has the resources of the media behind him. ::) ::) I'll se what I can do. ;)
Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on February 13, 2006, 23:41:35
The only drawback with potatoes in newly dug ground is that they're likely to be eaten alive by wireworm. It took five years or so before I could grow decent spuds.
5 years??? Oh no! :( I had potatoes in last year in a plot that hadn't been used for some years and was well couched over. I had quite a bit of wireworm damage although this was mostly cosmetic. Was hoping that this year, as the bit that i'll be planting spuds in was cleared last year, that the worst was over. Obviously not. Sniff!
:o We were lucky then :o our allotment untouched for several years and I had a bumper crop of Arran Pilot, Maris Peer and Desiree last season, this has prompted me to increase this year with Foremost, Pentland Javelin, Rocket and Charlotte. :) all going into virgin soil again, (my second plot). I hope my luck holds out :'( :-\
You were lucky indeed, but I found some varieties were better than others. Red Duke of York came out looking like sponges, while King Edwards were usually tolerable despite some holes.
Robert, wonderful how different things are on different plots - I have had exactly the opposite experience to you - my Red Duke of York rarely get touched, whilst I have given up with King Edward!