Potatoes - probably a stupid question.....

[Novice Gardener]

Sorry in advance as this is probably the most stupid question ever asked about planting potatoes, but here goes...... I've planted some tatties already in my raised beds in the garden - they are really deep beds - probably about 3 foot deep, so alls I did was put em in a little hole and earth them up when the shoots started coming through and they're growing great now, but now I've got my lottie I'm not sure what to do.... The ground was totally overgrown with weeds, so I've dug out a nice sized bed. The soil turned over really easily and looks nice and rich but I've looked at all the other plots with potatoes on it and they seem really organised. What I want to know is how deep should I plant my tatties, do I mound up the earth straight away. Do I just plonk em on the soil and mound over em, or do I dig individual holes to put em in or do I dig a trench (but how deep) and put the tatties in that then mound the earth over them??? Ok stop laughing now I said it was gonna be a daft question didn't I

[Two_Sheds]

you have to consider why you do these things, and then it all starts to make sense!

earthing up (there are tons of posts on this, use your Search button) is to protect the developing spuds from the sunlight. It also protects the leaves from any frost if you plant early.

You can plant in a hole or a trench, whatever you prefer. I don't dig if I can help it, so I just make a trowel hole, about 5 inches deep (I go on the principle that a seed needs twice its own depth of soil on top of it). For more info, have a look back thru the old posts.

[rustylady]

I'd go with Twosheds. Use a trowel, plant seed potatoes around five inches deep. Mind, it's getting a bit late to be planting spuds now.

[geoff]

planting spuds

The traditional and official method is to dig a trench one spade deep and put in a layer of compost first, then cover, and earth up as they grow
In practice spuds are pretty robust and you can get away with almost any method Easiest is to dig over the soil then make a hole with a hand trowel, about 6'' to 8'' deep keep the rows fairly straight with a line 12''to 15'' between plants, same distance between rows try earthing up some and not others, so you find out for yourself if it's any use
have a look around the allotments and ask other plotholders