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How do you grow your No Dig spuds

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  • #1

    How do you grow your No Dig spuds

    Being a noob to the world of no dig I'm wondering how I'm going to get on with growing spuds. We plant in the region of 90 seed potatoes so containers aren't really a viable option and as the plot catches the wind I'm reluctant to try growing under straw. I was thinking of planting in the soil surface and mounding up with part rotted wood chips.
    What do other no dig grapes do.
    Location ... Nottingham
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  • #2
    If you can source lots of straw, and cover seed tatties with good amount of straw mulch, you can pick your potato harvest with out having to dig , and they will be clean as well.

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    • #3
      I am not strictly no dig. But after reading a BM post when I first joined the vine, I planted using a bulb planter then mulched the bed as usual. No faffing with trenching and mounding which I done prior as I thought it was standard practice and the results were just as good
      Last edited by Norfolkgrey; 13-01-2017, 02:52 PM. Reason: clarifying

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      • #4
        Cheers NG, Yes just make a hole with one of these, throw in a tattie & cover up.

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        • #5
          I think what Mr Bones is asking though, is how do you dig up your spuds without digging?

          Personally I don't take no dig too literally - I use a lot of deep lasagne style mulches to improve my soil, but if i need to dig a bed over a bit to get crops in/out, then hey-ho... no harm done and another mulch will go on at some point anyway.

          As for straw, I tried tatties under straw this year and the results were awful - the haulms struggled to get through the straw, which set them back, and then the whole crop was decimated by slugs, which seem to love the damp rotting environment.
          He-Pep!

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          • #6
            What I usually do is drop a seed spud into a dibbered hole, rake it flat and earth up later but now the plot's mostly covered with wood chip mulch I'm thinking of ways to avoid mixing them into the soil. I did look at straw mulch but like Bario, we're not short of slugs and from experience of putting it round strawbs, a few brisk days and it'll be all over the site.
            I know others are no dig and wondered what methods are used. It'll be an interesting experiment and I'm open to suggestions.
            Last edited by Mr Bones; 13-01-2017, 03:38 PM. Reason: add extra words
            Location ... Nottingham

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            • #7
              This is how Charles Dowding "digs" his!

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBV_ri1_XSQ

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              • #8
                Last year i just dug a hole with a metal detecting tool i have, basically a long handled trowel. I then put some high pottasium slow release fertiliser in hole and filled the hole with unrotted horse muck ( sawdust and hoss wee mostly)
                No weeding needed during season and a good crop of clean tatties at the end.I still have some to dig yet but have four cardboard boxes full in the summerhouse. I do dig up tatties with a garden fork but only dig one fork ful around plant. Rake it back after harvesting the tatties and its ready for its next crop.
                My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
                to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

                Diversify & prosper


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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Snadger View Post
                  Last year i just dug a hole with a metal detecting tool i have, basically a long handled trowel. I then put some high pottasium slow release fertiliser in hole and filled the hole with unrotted horse muck ( sawdust and hoss wee mostly)
                  No weeding needed during season and a good crop of clean tatties at the end.I still have some to dig yet but have four cardboard boxes full in the summerhouse. I do dig up tatties with a garden fork but only dig one fork ful around plant. Rake it back after harvesting the tatties and its ready for its next crop.
                  Thanks Snadge, so you don't earth up then. That's interesting.
                  Location ... Nottingham

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                  • #10
                    After a bit of experimentation I'm growing all potatoes in buckets from now on. Cleaner & easier, easy to lift just a few at a time leaving the remaining ones to grow.

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                    • #11
                      Can't help with the no dig but don't earth up, never seen the benifit

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                      • #12
                        I plant mine with a bulb planter to, and don't bother to earth up, just mulch with whatever's handy, usually grass clippings

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                        • #13
                          Potatoes and no dig gardening

                          This might sound like a daft question but how do you grow potatoes in a 'no dig' system?

                          With potatoes in my crop rotation it would mean soil was deeply dug every 4 years.

                          Should I just stick to potatoes in sacks? Do potatoes have a place in no dig systems?

                          Thoughts and advice appreciated.

                          Thanks
                          View my blog at: http://alansallotment.blogspot.com/

                          Or follow me on Twitter @Alansallotment

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                          • #14
                            I believe you lay the spuds on the surface and cover them with mulch. The Charles Dowding website will explain it, I'm sure!

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                            • #15
                              I asked the same question here
                              http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...uds_92235.html

                              I currently have spuds growing under piles of leaves and also under half rotted wood chips. The wood chip ones I estimate are at least a couple of weeks behind everyone elses on site, probably the chips warm up later/slower.
                              Location ... Nottingham

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