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There is something so satisfying about successfully growing root vegetables, especially potatoes. You can see them above ground, but when you dig them up, you kind of feel like your discovered buried treasure.
The reason many gardeners don’t grow potatoes in their home garden is because of all the work involved. Grown the conventional way, the soil needs to be cultivated and loose for good tuber formation. It involved digging a trench several inches deep, planting your potato seed, covering with soil and waiting for growth to push through. As the potato vines emerge and grow, you gradually fill in the trench and them start to mound the soil around the vines to several inches high. That takes time, work and constant attention. I want to share with you another way to grow potatoes that takes almost no time, little work and almost no attention. Grow your potatoes right on the soil surface under a thick layer of mulch!
First, select the area you want to plant, and sprinkle of a little bone meal which provides phosphorus for strong root/tuber development. Lay your potato seed pieces right on top of the soil, about 12” apart in rows about 18” apart. Do not cultivate the soil at all. Next apply a loose hay or straw mulch to about 18” thick. That’s it! As the hay decays over the season, it fertilizes the potatoes and keeps them with an even level of moisture and makes them drought proof!
In a few weeks, you will see the potato vines pushing right through the mulch, which has settled to about half it’s original thickness. If the mulch looks a little too thin, add a little more hay or straw. Make sure there is enough to keep the potato seed pieces well covered. Your work is done!
In late Summer or early Fall, when the vines die off, just pull the mulch aside and pick up your potatoes which will be nestled and mostly clean, right on the soil surface. In addition to “less time, little work and almost no attention”, there is another advantage to growing spuds this way. You will almost NEVER see a potato beetle. For some reason, they hate the mulch and will avoid your crop like the plague! Your yield will be 10% top 20% less that the conventional method, so plant a little extra to make up the difference. Once you try this way of growing potatoes, they will become an annual staple in your garden.
Blessings,
Ron
“The Garden Guy”
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