Earthing Up New potatoes with manure?

smithyjules

I have hit a crisis point eek! Having Chitted 3 different varietyies of new potatoes (first earlies) and then being given a tray of 30 more from FIL I trotted down to the plot (which is in its second year but only got part dug last year) to dig dig dig and pop them all in only to find the ground totally solid. We do plan to hire a rotorvator at some point soon but not soon enough to get my poor potatoes in.

So my question is...If I manage to get the surface dug a bit could I pop in the potatoes and earth them up with the abundance of manure that we have on site?It is not the fresh stuff, it's nice and dry and crumbly and doesn't smell of poo anymore iyswim!

I've heard of people earthing up with straw or grass but we have neither sadly and I'd be so upset to loose my tatties after all the chitting time!

Can anyone help?!

Sambucus_Nigra

Give it a good water one day, then go back the next [preferably in the early morning] and use a bulb planter or trowel to make the holes. Then pile the well rotted manure on top.

[Deleted User]

I wish I could help. I went to the allotment yesterday and couldn`t earth up our potatoes properly as the ground is solid and any crumbs have consolidated to big hard lumps. If I were starting again, I would investigate laying them on top and laying weed fabric on top of them and cutting holes as the potatoes grow

Sambucus_Nigra

Kittie - you would be better off with cardboard than weed fabric; it keeps the moisture in and all the light out.

smithyjules

Sambucus - I'll try that thanks!One of the older fellas said it's be easier to dig after some good rain...shows how daft I am I thought the soil would be heavier then so harder to dig!Oh well you live and learn.

Kittie - it's so deflating!We got our plot last year when I had pre-elampsia and 35 weeks pregnant so not much got done. I did some weeding then and the DH dug over a few patches which have given me a head start this year at least. I have cheered myself up by using a twisty roundy fork thing (my 4 year olds term I myself have no idea what it's called, it's on loan from our adopted allotment uncle who is mentioned above!) and getting all the weeds out bit by bit and covering each bit so when we can hire a rotorvator soon we won't just be digging in more weeds. I have used the weed supression fabric for my strawberry bed, just cut holes in for them and then put straw around, works nicely, hope you get on with that ok

Sambucus_Nigra

You really don't need a rotavator! Just cover with cardboard - it will not only stop the light and the weeds; and keep the moisture in, but the worms will start taking it down into the soil and when you come to dig it next year, it will have improved no end.

Just grow your seedlings in pots/modules and plant through the cardboard with a bulb planter or trowel. It will save you so much cash and hard work!

splodger_seedswapper

spuds can be grown quite well - with little or no soil - i have known of people growing them just in straw (not fancied trying it myself mind - i like the whole process involved with looking after my spuds properly)

do as above suggested - wet the ground well in the evening (before you plan to plant them) use a fork not a spade to make your hole to plant them - them cover them with as much muck as you can get hold of (assuming that it is nice and friable) - the spuds will love it

if the ground is very hard - then you may need to water more often than usual

Bramleyapple

I hadn't thought about cardboard - what a good idea. this is my first year as an allotment holder and I'm wondering what to do with manure that's now as hard as bricks! And does anyone know where the April showers went?

smithyjules

The reason I was considering a rotorvator is that we had a half plot last year and weth two children under 5 and work and a hubby at uni we were never going to get it all done so we gave up half of that. So we now have a quarter plot so I'd like to see it all in action this year really. I've managed to get some done as I said earlier and with the spuds in I think I'll have about half of my plot to do which although isn't a lot compared with a full/half plot etc I thought it would be best to get it all done in one go.

Maybe it would be a better idea to get the rest covered with cardboard and then plant through holes though? If I were to do this should I weed it first then chuck on some muck (!) then water and put the cardboard on? Or just put the cardboard on, plant and water?

sorry for all the questions but many thanks for the advice!:o

grrmich

Last year (my first year) I covered a very weedy bed with one layer of cardboard (no digging or weed clearance) and put a mixture of local authority free compost and manure on top. I had good results, but there were some weeds poking through after a while. I just pulled them out whenever I saw them. Much better than digging the whole thing

This year I have done the same with my last weedy patch, but this time I put down one layer of cardboard, manure, another layer of cardboard and again a mixture of manure and compost. I'm hoping that double the cardboard means no weeds get through this time!

It really is much better than back breaking digging. I will never dig up a weedy patch ever again.

Sambucus_Nigra

smithyjules wrote: »

Maybe it would be a better idea to get the rest covered with cardboard and then plant through holes though? If I were to do this should I weed it first then chuck on some muck (!) then water and put the cardboard on? Or just put the cardboard on, plant and water?

sorry for all the questions but many thanks for the advice!:o

Yes - either of the above. Always water before adding a mulch though. Get weeds like Bramble out but most other weeds will try and grow round the sides but 90% will die back underneath.

For your carrots, parsnips, onions etc; you can not cardboard that small area, and just dig and weed that one. However, remember when you weed, you uncover a load more weed seeds. So prep it, and leave it a fortnight, then hoe back all the weeds and then sow your seeds or transplant your seedlings.

For your cardboard patch - potatoes grow under it and you can lift the cardboard and harvest potatoes whilst leaving the plant to continue to grow. Squashes will cover a large space so put pumpkins, squashes, courgettes in and they will grow like billy-o for you.