POTATO thought for the confused,

[lottie dolly]

Having been swatting up on here, loosing threads, ect, ect, can peeps please clarify for my brains.

I have had a rethink of planting some of the spuds, i have a patch that is currently useless due to horse tail, at the back end of last year, after clearing the area, i smothered it with leaves aprox 5 in deep, so far so good, no weeds at all, not even a hint, yes, i know that the HT WILL be up anytime soon, so i had a thought of dig a hole, plant a spud, and carry on putting more of rotting leaves, or what ever, on top, instead of earthing up, my idea, is to:
A:cut down on a bit of work and
B:make use of an area, then hopefully it will break up the ground a bit for sorting out when the spuds are out, the area in question has not been dug over as such for a while. My concerns are, would the leaves be enough to keep out the light, would the HT roots strangle the spuds, and lastly, does the ground HAVE to be loosened up first, or will a small area, say a good foot within the planting hole be sufficient, thanks all,

[Veggieman]

The ground does not need to be broken up first, lots of people grow spuds without digging the ground whatsoever, just cover the spuds with some organic matter through the season. They will help break up the ground.
Five inches of rotting leaves should be enough to keep light off the spuds.
The mares tail can get quite tall, so could shade out you spuds in the end. The new shoots rising though the soil may pierce your spuds, but i dont think they will strangle them as they root so deep.

[zazen999]

It will be fine, I do this at schools and it works fine.

[Aberdeenplotter]

some folks even plant under polythene with slots cut to allow the sprouts to work their way through. If planning to do that however be aware that slugs will love the cover and your spuds and that rats also will enjoy what you are providing

[lottie dolly]

Many thanks for the replies,so space will be put to good use now,and not just left,i hate to have unused space,i think once the tatty foliage is high enough,it should quell the HT growth a lot,anyways,i will pull the big bits up and put them in my HT brew barrel ,make it earn its space,

[weekendwellies]

My plot is a haven for horsetail. I just put the spuds in, and hoik out the horsetail as it comes through, I have finally accepted that i will never be rid of it, the best i can hope for is to weaken it by constant decapitation. previous years potatoes (and other crops) dont seem to care that the ht is there, even when i have been slack and let it grow up a bit taller, they dont get affected in any negative way that i can tell.

[binley100]

I have the dreaded HT on my plot......no problem with it piercing tatties or overshadowing them. It's just annoying . As I've said elsewhere I grew some under straw last year , plenty of slugs but for some reason they left the tatties alone. Am using cardboard this year as haven't any straw so we'll see if there's more damage from slugs ......