This year I was in need of new beds to extend the veg patch, and the amount of grass and digging in front of me did not go down too well on the back. So I embraced the no dig method and will not go back. What I have done this year is create news beds by starting with spuds under hay. The process I follow is quite simple:
1 - Pick a day where the wind is very gentle.
2 - mow the grass short as.
3 - place manure on the surface (sheep poo is excellent for how easy it spreads and will be covered so the weeds will not germinate.
4 - Take newspaper and about ten sheets thick lie on the ground and keep a hose close by to wet it down.
5 - Continue over the area you want a future bed in.
6 - I then place spuds at about 30cm apart on top of the wet newspaper.
7 - I then put hay bales over all this and more poo and soil. The key is to ensure the top is not just hay, but soils and manure with blood and bone also. You want some fertility into the new bed as well as enough to grow the spuds well. Note: spuds help prevent much of the hay bales seeds germinate but not all. Regular pulling out of any germination helps, or you can use another source of mulch which is more expensive.
8 - water well and watch the hay reduce in height over the weeks and the spuds come up.
Eventually you get some spuds, and a new garden bed that is fertile. At the end of this the hay is still not fully composted. That is fine. I add some compost or have a bag of loose manure from Mitre 10 into a hole within this bed to plant into.
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| Pink Eye Potato under hey and soon to be a new garden bed. |
But the best rewards we have experienced lately is the art of bandicooting into the pink eye potato for x-mas. If Bandicooting is a new concept to you, it is basically carefully pulling back the hay (or soil) and picking a few ready spuds before actually harvesting the lot. We let the spuds fully die back before harvest but have still been enjoying them for dinner since mid December. So far we have bandicooted 10kgs and I hope to get another 30 kgs of pink eyes which do not store as long as others but will carry us through to the harvests of the other spuds growing. Last season I planted Kennebecs and Uptodate and we all really enjoyed these. This year I have branched out to see if there are others we enjoy more. These are:
I do have the King Edwards under soil as based on last years yields I did get a slightly larger harvest from the spuds in the soil. However due to the need to create a number of new beds, I opted to do the majority of spuds under hay. I have also used this method to create the herb bed from last season to good success and some normal flowering beds which are still in progress (but these beds are subject to the local wildlife so careful plantings are needed in this flowering beds)
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| King Edward spuds under soil |
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| Part of last seasons spud harvest |
That is a majorly impressive spud harvest! :O I've done mine in the no dig manner too but with 1 major difference. I put down a small layer of lucerne hay, the spuds on top then some well composted horse manure then more lucerne BUT inside of 3 separate apple crates. I want to be able to replant them in the same place every year (it's just easier) but without the issues of lack of soil rotation. As the spuds have grown they've had a top up of either topsoil or more well rotten horse manure, straw or lucerne mulch or sugar cane mulch. I've removed one of the bottom boards on each crate, reattaching it with a screw so we can easily empty out the crates and get all the spuds out and then we can use the soil (compost?) elsewhere and start again with fresh layers next season and no risk of passing on spud diseases from year to year. If the verdant plants are anything to go by, I've done something right. I planted 2 varieties, 1 which is a heritage but whose name I totally forgot to note (whoops) and a crate of sapphires which are a violent shade of purple. :)
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