Potatoes in tyres
DEFINITELY going to try the compost bags next year. Dug the last row and a half Saturday and have HAD ENOUGH! Only benefit is that I was able to mix lovely horse manure into the soil as I heaved it all back into the trenches!
I've been appealing on th intranet at work (about 50 people work at the organisation) for plastic 2-litre bottles to try making a greenhouse next year and am about to add compost bags to the list. The appeal of those above other sorts of bags is that they are pretty much light impermeable and much stronger than average. I'm going to line them up in rows and dig the topsoil to fill them from the adjacent earth. That means I can turn them over/slit the bottoms, find the potatoes and shovel the earth straight back into the trenches, mixing with muck as I do so. Cunning plan, eh?
I've been appealing on th intranet at work (about 50 people work at the organisation) for plastic 2-litre bottles to try making a greenhouse next year and am about to add compost bags to the list. The appeal of those above other sorts of bags is that they are pretty much light impermeable and much stronger than average. I'm going to line them up in rows and dig the topsoil to fill them from the adjacent earth. That means I can turn them over/slit the bottoms, find the potatoes and shovel the earth straight back into the trenches, mixing with muck as I do so. Cunning plan, eh?
I really must change my avatar to reflect my lovely clear-of-brambles allotment...
Reason for post is that I have had a few days off and met lots of new people up at the allotments AND one has a Top Tip for potatoes.
Last year, he filled a row of bins (pallets, of course) with fallen leaves, which are endlessly delivered to the allotment car parks (whether anyone wants them or not) then planted his potatoes in the semi-composted leaves the following spring. Apparently, they were incredibly prolific with at least one specimen weighing over a kilo! Much easier work than digging trenches - although, of course, you don't get the benefit of the lovely friable soil left when you dig the potatoes...
Reason for post is that I have had a few days off and met lots of new people up at the allotments AND one has a Top Tip for potatoes.
Last year, he filled a row of bins (pallets, of course) with fallen leaves, which are endlessly delivered to the allotment car parks (whether anyone wants them or not) then planted his potatoes in the semi-composted leaves the following spring. Apparently, they were incredibly prolific with at least one specimen weighing over a kilo! Much easier work than digging trenches - although, of course, you don't get the benefit of the lovely friable soil left when you dig the potatoes...