Potato Growing - The no-dig method
- Sally Davidson
- Feb 29, 2024
- 5 min read
The simplest way of growing potatoes, even in the most rubbish soil.
“There is all the pleasure that one can have in golddigging in finding one’s hopes satisfied in the riches of a good hill of potatoes.” ― Sarah Orne Jewett, The Country of the Pointed Firs
The humble, yet vigorous potato is happy to call just about anywhere home: pots, buckets, sacks, stacked tyres, old compost bags, the abandoned canoe in your back yard – you name it. So, when it comes to growing potatoes in the wasteland you have as a veg patch, it doesn’t take much to improvise and provide the ideal conditions for it to flourish.
Potatoes really are an incredibly easy plant to grow and will reward you abundantly, provided you follow a few basic rules:
- Don’t overcrowd them. As a rough guide, each potato plant needs about 10 litres of space to grow into. Cramming will only result in harvesting very small spuds, if you’re lucky enough to get any at all.
- Keep their soil moist (not wet).
- Ensure their home is well-drained and never becomes waterlogged.
“What I say is that, if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.”― A.A. Milne
HOW TO PREP YOUR BARREN PATCH
The solution to any bad soil is ADD COMPOST. The beauty of ‘no-dig’ is that it doesn’t matter what quality soil you’re growing on, the majority of the plant will be in the medium you place above the soil, and only the roots may venture into the soil below if they require more than what the growing medium is providing them with.
1. It’s good to lay down cardboard over the area you plan to use, then saturate it with water. You don’t absolutely have to, but it does help to retain moisture and provide spud’s buddy, the earthworm, with an attractive habitat.
2. Use a good quality compost or potting medium – no need for soil, and heap a good 30-40cm high covering over the top of the cardboard or area you’re using and give it a reasonable compacting so that it’s no longer light and fluffy, but rather stable and firm.
3. Mark out where you plan to plant your seed potatoes. ‘Early’ potatoes should be planted roughly 12cm deep and 30cm apart, allowing for adequate growing room for their tubers. ‘Maincrop’ potatoes should be spaced at least 40cm apart. If planting in rows, then rows should be a good 60-75cm apart.
4. The secret behind exactly when to plant your seed potatoes lies in the timing of your last expected frost date.
5. I like to cover my growing medium with a thin layer of hay or straw to protect it from the elements and help retain moisture and nutrients. It's entirely up to you whether you choose to do this or not.
SPUD SPECIFICS
Potatoes are classed in 3 categories; first earlies, second earlies, and maincrop.
‘First early’ potatoes are the quickest growing of the lot and can be ready for harvesting as early as 10 to 12 weeks after planting. They should be planted 30cm apart, 12cm deep and rows should be 60cm apart. They’re planted after the last frost in March, and harvested in June and July. Varieties I recommend are: ‘Orla’, ‘Lady Christl’, ‘Rocket’, and ‘Accent’.
‘Second early’ are ready from around the 14-16 week mark, should also be planted 30cm apart, 12cm deep and rows should be 60cm apart. They’re planted after the last frost in March, and harvested in July and August. Varieties I recommend are: ‘Charlotte’, ‘Maris Peer’, and ‘Ratte’.
‘Maincrop’ potatoes, being slower growing, better yield and larger potatoes, generally take 16-22 weeks to reach perfection. They should be planted 40cm apart, 12cm deep, and rows should be 75cm apart. They’re planted in April and harvested from August through to October. Varieties I recommend are: ‘Maris Piper’, ‘King Edward’, ‘Cara’ and ‘Picasso’.
SPROUTING OR ‘CHITTING’
You’re going to need to sprout your seed potatoes before planting – a process known as ‘chitting’ by the potato gurus.
To do this, you need to lay your tubers on a supportive container such as an egg box, with their ‘eyes’ facing upwards, and keep them in a bright but relatively cool place for them to sprout thick, sturdy shoots. Sprouting needs to have happened for the potato to successfully produce more potatoes.
Don’t get too specific about this process – the idea is simply to keep the tubers fresh and give them the best head start for when you’re ready to plant them. This can be from very early spring if you can offer some protection from frost, or mid spring if not.
The potatoes are ready to plant when the shoots are about 2cm long. Rub off the weakest shoots, leaving roughly four per tuber.
PLANTING AND PLANT CARE
1. Plant your ‘chitted’ potatoes with rhizomes facing upwards and cover, without compacting, with 10cm compost / growing medium. The roots will be happy to penetrate un-dug compact earth.
2. Give your potatoes a thorough watering when you plant them, then don’t water them again until you see the first signs of the plant sprouting through the soil.
3. When the first shoots rise up to meet you, it’s time to start ‘earthing up’.
‘Earthing up’ not only protects the newly emerging foliage from possible frost damage, but also protects the developing potatoes from light. Exposure to light turns potato tubers green and green potatoes are poisonous.
Wait for the stems to be around 20cm in height before starting the process. Heap compost up around the stem area which is where the tubers develop, creating a ridge of 10-15cm. This process will need to be repeated a few times before harvesting so watch the stem growth and ‘earth up' accordingly.
4. Check your soil for moistness every few days and only water if needed. You don’t want to over water as this will promote blight / rot. The roots will be happy to penetrate the un-dug compact earth if they need more nutrients or water. A good time to water however, is close to harvest time as your potatoes reach their full maturity.
HARVESTING
Harvesting earlies generally takes place after flowering, when tubers are roughly the size of hen’s eggs, but this isn’t always the case. Tubers will continue growing as long as leaves are healthy and photosynthesising. Definitely harvest when plants begin dying as tubers left lying in the soil will eventually be attacked by creepy-crawlies.
Best practice is to pull whole plant out carefully by the stem and most of the tubers will come out in the process. The bonus about planting in compost no-dig is that the medium is so granular and easy to handle that finding the balance of the tubers is easy, simply rummaging through the mediuim by hand. No tools = no unintentional damage to the potatoes.
“Not everyone can be a truffle. Most of us are potatoes. And a potato is a very good thing to be.”― Massimo Bottura, Massimo Bottura: Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef
Your newly harvested batch of delicious potatoes will deserve centre stage on your plate. Dolloped with a generous blob of fresh butter and garnished with freshly chopped herbs will give you motivation to get back out into the garden and get planting again.
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