This year I want to experiment with growing potatoes above ground.For now I have sprinkled a little bit of compost (hands, no shovels). Compost is the basis of every garden. It nourishes soil life. 

Why and what's the benefit Potatoes are quite susceptible to potato disease phytophthora. It breaks out every year and everyone is afraid of it every year. Phytophora is a fungus that affects plant and tuber and especially strikes when it is very wet. Well. we know that in the Netherlands. very wet. Potatoes that are in the wet ground are hard to grubbing (harvesting), anyway I think it's a grilling and digging. You can also use a rick (such a big fork with pointed teeth), but that also punctures potato. More importantly, this way you let the bottom life in branch. Growing above ground, in and under a thick layer of mulch solves the problems. No wet clothes, no digger. Clean potatoes, clean hands. Although the latter is a shame, because I really like to get my hands dirty in the garden.  

A thin layer of straw (for airiness and when digesting some kali for the potato). Where the beepers come, there are now pressed wood sawdust blocks. I let them get wet by the rain, causing them to fall apart. 

When I'm going to “lay” the beepers in 2 weeks, I put a shovel of compost, where the beeper comes and then the sawdust around it. From Mark Abbott-Compton (English gardener), I learned that mice hate wood sawdust. With this I hope to keep them at bay.

Then I'm going to apply a layer of hay around the beeper. Then, when serious foothills can be seen, a brutal layer of mulch comes. Hay seems to me, because this is very compact. I'll buy from those compressed suits or maybe, if I can get it, a bale at a farmer or something. The plants will be easy to root in the earth, because the straw layer is not thick and the soil is loose (fresh layer of garden soil poured last year from Bio-Kultura). The fries grow at the foothills (roots), so they will have to be removed a little bit from the earth. The main focus is to keep the mulch layer lighttight. Potatoes that get light turn green. That green is poisonous. That's why the wood sawdust. I hope.

Loading full article...