Potatoes for keeping down weeds

[leoblackcat]

I am starting to plan what i will want to grow next year - my first year with the allotment. It was really overgrown when i got it and I keep being told that i should grow potatoes next week to keep the weeds at bay. Do I need to buy lots of seed potatoes or can i just buy a few and chop them up?

[Peter]

Sorry to be the one to tell you this, but potatoes don't keep weeds down.

It's all the cultivation you do to earth them up that keeps the weeds down somewhat, but weeds will still sprout between the rows and even on the earthing up.

[Two_Sheds]

i should grow potatoes next week to keep the weeds at bay.

Potatoes aren't a winter crop, they won't grow

as to weed-cover: the foliage is big and will suppress annual weeds to an extent (just like pumpkin foliage does) but it won't stop perennial weeds

[bluemoon]

Have to agree with both the above, if you did manage to get some to grow the first frost would turn all the foliage to mush. It's the trenching, the earthing up and the harvesting which, as a side effect, clears a potato patch of weeds. I'm afraid there are no easy ways to clear a new plot (unless you're prepared to drench it in herbicide), a small area needs to be dug, the weeds' roots thoroughly removed and the area covered either with black plastic, a thick mulch or a green manure, before you move on to the next section. Even if it were currently spring I'd still worry about covering an entire plot in potatoes, for a start it would mess up your rotation, then there's the problem of volunteer spuds appearing in all your next year's beds (it's bad enough when they just do it in the one) and the introduction of disease which you would have no way of avoiding with the next potato crop. The Organic Gardening Catalogue and King's Seeds have a wide choice of green manures, some of which can be sown up until November, I'd be more tempted to go with one of those.

[Alison]

Assuming the original poster meant next year then yes, to a point it can work. The attached photo (see bottom right, strimming was needed when this was taken!) shows an area of previously totally uncultivated land on my lottie which I covered in card and planted seed potatoes through holes. The potatoes were simply planted via an old bulb planter and did very well, giving a large sack of Charlotte potatoes. The card and pots supressed the weed and it was very easy to dig through - much easier than in other areas of ground which had not been covered. I appreciate that the card did much of the work here by excluding light but this way I got a decent crop too and was harvesting as I dug.

Re the seed potato issue, you can cut up but need to ensure at least one eye per bit otherwise you'll get no crop.

[di]

One word of warning...if you have couch grass it would be worth trying to get rid of some of the roots(most of the roots!)before growing spuds.
We planted them straight into an unweeded & unprepared patch a few years ago and almost every potato had a spear of couch grass root growing through it!

[Two_Sheds]

I planted my Druid spuds in an uncleared bit of ground ... just pulled out the worst weeds, didn't bother digging it over (it was too difficult), dug holes with a trowel and popped spuds in.

They ALL had pest damage: cockchafers, millipedes and slugs.

So it's not just weeds that do the damage: it's all the bugs that are left in the ground too

[rustylady]

Anything that has a lot of foliage will help to suppress weeds, but you can't beat hand weeding. Just pull or dig the b*****s out.

[Snadger]

It has to be said (oh noooo not again I hear you say!) that the best weedkiller is the gardeners shadow!

[Alison]

One word of warning...if you have couch grass it would be worth trying to get rid of some of the roots(most of the roots!)before growing spuds.
We planted them straight into an unweeded & unprepared patch a few years ago and almost every potato had a spear of couch grass root growing through it!

Interesting, I have very bad couch grass and loads of stray raspberry canes in the bit of ground I mentioned above but didn't have any problems with spearing and got pretty much a perfect crop although maybe it may have been bigger in clearer ground. Maybe it also depends on the type of soil.

[Jeanied]

Hi Leoblackcat (great name btw) - don't get disheartened. I used potatoes as a way of getting on top of my overgrown allotment (that was a couple of fresh starts ago!) so I covered one patch with cardboard, manure on top and black plastic and planted the potatoes into holes in the plastic - speared through the manure and cardboard to reach the soil. It really worked well for me- yes a few weeds sprouted alongside but I had a good crop. Left it in place at the end and guess what - next year, crop no 2 (well it is mild round here and you aren't a million miles away!) Cleared it all out this year and found my slow worms - quite a lot of weed roots but it was all much more workable.
Grapes who advise that it is the trenching that destroys the weeds though are spot on! Thats what I did this year!

[leoblackcat]

I keep being told that i should grow potatoes next week to keep the weeds at bay

Oops - sorry for the confusion - I meant to type next year. I was planning to dig out as many of the weeds as possible over the autumn/winter/ spring and then plant some potatoes next year. We don't really eat enough potatoes to warrant planting too many - so maybe I should forget this idea and just revert to plan A and plant beans, peas and courgettes on the bits i have weeded.

[di]

Interesting, I have very bad couch grass and loads of stray raspberry canes in the bit of ground I mentioned above but didn't have any problems with spearing and got pretty much a perfect crop although maybe it may have been bigger in clearer ground. Maybe it also depends on the type of soil.

Maybe the cardboard helped to weaken it making the roots less viscious?I might give it a go next year but mulching with cardboard & manure/compost.
Although we tried to stay on top of the top growth,it was still going for it.

[Two_Sheds]

I was planning to dig out as many of the weeds as possible over the autumn/winter/ spring

The advice to mulch the weedy bits with card or newspapers is spot on. Lack of light will kill or weaken all the weeds, and come planting time the ground will be very much easier to work.

[jackie j]

Last autumn I dug over the area I wanted to grow my spuds and covered with manure for the winter, not one weed came up so I was able to plant my spuds without having to de weed first so much easier.