How to grow potatoes without digging
Growing potatoes without digging really is as great as it sounds! It's a lot less effort than the usual way, and you can use it as a method to clear ground of weeds. If your land is infected with potato eelworm you can use this method to grow a better crop.
It's worth growing a range of potato varieties to see what suits your soil and your tastes. A wide range of different colours, shapes, textures and eating qualities is available. Whatever you choose, grow them organically and they'll taste even better. Some have better resistance to the common potato pests and diseases than others. Always plant good quality certified seed potatoes to avoid introducing pests and diseases.
Chitting potatoesFor a flying start, 'chit' seed potatoes before planting. This means placing them in a clean box or tray - old egg trays are ideal - and keeping them in a cool (8-10°C), light place, where they will produce strong sturdy shoots to give an earlier crop. Tubers can stay safely in their trays until planting conditions are right.
Planting
If the ground is weedy, either clear off the weeds or cut them down to ground level, using a mower or shears. If the ground is very dry, water it well.
Spread well rotted manure or garden compost on the ground at the rate of a barrowload of manure, or two of compost, per 10 sq m (11sq yd). If you have neither manure nor compost, use a proprietary brand of bagged manure or an organic fertiliser instead.
You can 'plant' your seed potatoes in April - early April in warmer areas, late April where late frosts are common. No Dig potatoes do tend to be more prone to frost damage as the mulch used keeps the soil cold. Plant a bit later than usual, and protect the shoots overnight with fleece, newspapers, straw or hay if frost is forecast.
Place seed potatoes on the soil surface at the usual spacing - in rows 20cm x 75cm (8in x 30in) for earlies, and a little further apart for main crop. If you're growing in a bed system space evenly at 30cm (12in) apart for earlies and 35cm (14in) for maincrop. Cover each row with a few inches of hay or old straw. Mark the rows or leave a bare path between them so that you don't tread on the tubers before they come through.
As the potatoes start to emerge, some of them will push the mulch up instead of growing through it - give them a helping hand! Continue to top up the mulch as the shoots grow. Cover the whole area, including the paths.
When the mulch is about 15cm(6in) thick and the plants are growing strongly, cover the mulch with a thick layer of grass mowings. This excludes light - stopping the potatoes from turning green - and helps to hold the mulch down. You can top this up as needed, provided you allow the first layer of mowings to dry off before applying a second.
Slugs are no more of a problem with this method than any other. Blackbirds can be a bit of a nuisance as they pull the mulch about.
Harvesting
To harvest the crop, pull back the mulch and just pick what you need for the night's meal - what could be easier? Make sure that you replace the mulch carefully afterwards. Early potatoes can be ready in as little as eight weeks from planting. When most of the plants are flowering it's usually a good indication that the tubers are big enough to eat, and with the No Dig method it's easy to check.
For maincrop varieties, wait until the foliage has died down before harvesting. If you want to harvest the whole crop it's easier to remove the mulch, collect the tubers and then replace it.
Maincrop varieties should be picked on a sunny day, if possible, and allowed to dry out on the surface for a few hours before putting into bags. |
