No dig potatoes

[SueA]

I was reading about a completely 'no dig' method of growing potatoes the other day & wondered if anyone had tried it. You lie the seed potatoes on the surface of the soil about 12ins apart, cover with about 6ins of straw, water well, add a general feed like Growmore/blood,fish & bone, cover with a layer of grass clippings & apply more grass clippings as the shoots come through ,watering about once a week. I can't try this method as we don't have a lawn & haven't got the spare land but it is supposed to give a crop of clean, pest free potatoes. Has anyone done this?

[JennieAtkinson]

I was trying a no dig method where I put cardboard on the grass, then lots of manure on the cardboard, then covered with membrane and planted the potatoes through that and finally grass cuttings. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get enough manure and I ended up having to dig the lot in so I could plant my potatoes. I now have some ratehr lumpy ground, with seed pots sort of stuck in, membrane over the top and grass cuttings that keep blowing about in the wind. Not quite what I had in mind

[sewer rat]

Hi SueA
Can't remember who but I'm fairly certain another grape has posted about this and has tried it - try searching the various potato threads and see if that turns anything up.(like a spud or two )

[Lesley Jay]

A new couple on our allotment site have mounds of grass cuttings around their potatoes. I will ask them if they are doing the no dig method and see what the results are like.

[WiZeR]

I'm tempted to try this myself on a overgrown grass patch on my lottie

[fruit&vegvirgin]

I'm tempted too - we have masses and masses of grass clippings. is it too late to start more spuds now?

[Lesley Jay]

No it's not too late to plant more potatoes but they need to go in as soon as possible.

[pigletwillie]

We tried this method last year. The spuds were beautifull, plentiful, clean and absolutely riddled with slugs80% of the crop was ruined.

A brilliant idea if you use nematodes I think.

[fruit&vegvirgin]

ah. there's always a drawback!!

[SueA]

I was told that the straw should deter slugs & that's one of the reasons you put it around strawberries too.Obviously just another garden myth! I would think you'd have to keep watering the grass clippings as well to stop them blowing around or maybe just throw a covering over & pin it down if it was windy.