added an 8 by 16 no dig potato garden, what do you think?

[trunkman]

I saw this on You Tube and decided to try it myself, let me know what you think. First I put the cardboard down and about a half a yard of compost.

Then spread it out, ended up about 3 inches deep.

Then added a wheel barrow full of compost chicken manure and raked it in.

Added the seed potatoes after dipping them in wood stove ash.

Then added about 8 inches of wheat straw.

Then a couple more wheel barrow fulls of compost.

Then another 12 inches of wheat straw and wet it down really heavily, there will be no more need to water, the straw will hold the moisture, all I have to do is wait for harvest.

Let me know what you think!

 

[bootstrap]

i dont grow potatoes but it seems high in nitrogen for a potato crop. how do you mound up the tops? I would think you would have to water once in a while. I remember my grandfather growing them under a pile of grass clippings so i guess anything is possible.

 

[trunkman]

i dont grow potatoes but it seems high in nitrogen for a potato crop. how do you mound up the tops? I would think you would have to water once in a while. I remember my grandfather growing them under a pile of grass clippings so i guess anything is possible.

From what the man on the video said you just let everything do its thing and when it's time just harvest. I'm sure I'll take the time to water it from time to time if we have a dry spell but otherwise, I'll just leave it alone.

 

[journey11]

Hey, can you get us a link to the video? I'd love to see it.

Potatoes have been frustrating for me. I'm always looking for new tricks.

What does dipping them in wood stove ashes do?

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

Hey, can you get us a link to the video? I'd love to see it.

Potatoes have been frustrating for me. I'm always looking for new tricks.

What does dipping them in wood stove ashes do?

ditto
ditto
ditto

 

[Collector]

Sounds like a great idea, I'm curious about the ashes also! Hope it works for you.

 

[trunkman]

Hey, can you get us a link to the video? I'd love to see it.

Potatoes have been frustrating for me. I'm always looking for new tricks.

What does dipping them in wood stove ashes do?

I'll go back and try to find the video, as for the ashes I don't remember what they do because I was watching so many garden videos that night that everything just blended together, I just remember it did something good. LOL...

Here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1OShZZUt0k

I did it a little differently but I still think my version will work, hopefully as good as his.

 

[trunkman]

Hey, can you get us a link to the video? I'd love to see it.

Potatoes have been frustrating for me. I'm always looking for new tricks.

What does dipping them in wood stove ashes do?

Ok, found the wood stove ash video, I look for all kinds of how to videos and kind of mix and match, I guess you can say I experiment. Plus my father always threw his wood stove ashes in the garden and he always had good results with his garden so I thought it couldn't hurt. Anyway, here is the video..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZxF4OAhnsU
Hope you like and it helps..

 

[thistlebloom]

No expert here, but I'd be cautious about dipping the taters in wood ash. Ashes are alkaline, and potatoes like acidic soil, around 5.5. Ashes can also cause potato scab.
I know some people dust a little ash on them before storing them to forestall rot, but I've never tried it.

I guess what it would come down to for me is why they were dipping the potatoes in ash.

But I think your method is intriguing Trunkman and I hope you share your results with us!

 

[EggsForIHOP]

You know....I MAY just give this a try! I LOVE the idea...have access to all the needs....think I shall give a it go small scale just to see what happens! Posts like this are DOUBLE TRIPLE AWESOME because they give me WONDERFUL IDEAS!