Project GROW NO-DIG POTATOES
The effort that’s involved in growing potatoes the traditional way – by first planting them in the soil and then earthing them up (mounding soil around them to protect the young tubers from frost as well as preventing light getting to them and turning them green) as they grow – is avoided by the no-dig approach. Growing them like this is much easier on your back when both planting and harvesting them, and it also means there’s no need to disturb the soil to gather the potatoes, or to dig them all up at once.
1
Prepare your seed potatoes by ‘chitting’ them for several weeks in a cool, bright, frost-free place. Plant them in early to mid-spring when the ‘chits’ are 2.5cm.
2
Spread a 2.5cm-5cm deep and even layer of mature garden or green waste compost over the surface of the no-dig soil (do not work it in). Space the tubers (chits uppermost) evenly over the soil, 30cm apart. A variety such as ‘Rocket’, grown for its immature ‘new’ potatoes, can be harvested in early summer.
3
Spread full-thickness, overlapping sheets of newspaper over the tubers, and then soak the paper thoroughly. This layer helps to keep the young potatoes in darkness as they develop. Cover the newspaper with a 10cm-15cm deep layer of mulch. Used here is spoiled hay; straw, weedkiller-free lawn mowings or green wood chips are also suitable.
4
Leafy shoots will push up through the damp paper/mulch layer. Potatoes are frost-sensitive, so cover the emerging young shoots with mulch to protect them on cold and clear nights. Young tubers form on the soil below the paper/mulch layer (part it to check their progress). Simply harvest what you need, then cover the rest up to keep them growing.
Adapted from The Vegan Gardener (Lorenz Books, £15) by John Walker. See page 5 for details.