In the winter I dumped 5 wheelbarrow loads of muck on each spud bed and covered them with black placcy, and forgot about them. Three months later, I'm double digging the now rich black wormy compost in and have set out our first row of earlies (Charlottes). The Plan is to plant in deep trenches and earth up to above ground level, forcing the plants to elongate and send off more roots for maximum spud yields. Lots of water, plenty of liquid feeds and muck, muck, muck will hopefully pay off. I'd recommend a Bulldog forged steel fork with steel strapped ash handle for this!
Earlies on left, maincrop on right. Stones in middle from the beds.
A safer bet than a nuclear power station right in the middle of an earthquake zone any day. Bet they wish they'd gone for tidal power generation instead now.
Cross section of the soil showing er... soil.
Turn over top, loosen bottom with the world's heftiest fork.
Turn over top, loosen bottom with the world's heftiest fork.
None of these to be seen last year and now there are hundreds!
ah, ha! the deeper the spud, the better the yield. Should've asked your elders and betters!
ReplyDeleteNice stones: rock gardening next?
I heard, right, (i.e. can offer no real evidence) that modern varieties of spuds crop close to the surface in order to make them accessible to machine harvest. Only ye olde varieties respond to deep cultivation. But of course it's good for the soil and the digger's moral fibre anyway.
ReplyDeleteAnd what do I know? My broad beans are looking terrible.
I hope Desiree spuds are an old variety then!
ReplyDelete1962 - flippin' ancient!
ReplyDeleteYou guys need a helping hand from the auld folks!
ReplyDelete