Experimenting with growing potatoes directly in my backyard. Outside of putting a layer of compost at the bottom of the trenches, I’m just using the soil that was here (Somerville, MA). It actually felt pretty good while I was digging and removing weeds/roots, but once I went to water it in I realized how poor the drainage is overall. What do we think? Any hope?
by jonsey456
11 Comments
Probably.
I don’t usually mound in my gardens but I mound potatoes. It gives them better aerated soil to grow in and makes them waaaay easier to harvest.
Trust me you are going to regret having to dig straight down into compacted soil to get your taters.
Grow? Yes. Give a good yield? Not sure. Potatoes like loose soil
I would have mounded them. The soil looks like it stays wet and potatoes prefer warm, well-draining, and loose soil. The good thing is that you can easily dig these up if you do change to hills/rows.
Yes but most likely low yield because it looks compacted. I dig out a large trench for potatoes and loosely mound it back on top. I also grow them (rotated) in a very loamy area in my garden
Pick them out, put compost and fertilizer down, start hilling vines with dirt, compost, organic fertilizer mixture after they are about six inches tall.
Yea, but the yield may be so-so. I put some extra seed potatoes in the ground last year despite our soil being mostly clay. Still got some! Wasn’t much, but considering the soil I was surprised. We grow the rest in grow bags for now.
I have clay soil and grown potatoes. I’ve tried everything from straw to what you are doing here. It will work. May not be great depending on your variety. The thing about a potato is it’s a wide spread. Think circular rather than row. I like to break up the soil in a circle around each one. Even if you plant superficially and mound you will get decent returns. If it’s a russet variety be prepared for some weird looking potatoes. Drainage: water less if you have poor draining.
Plant sunchokes instead, they don’t give an F about conditions, plus pretty flowers.⁽ˢᶦᵈᵉ ᵉᶠᶠᵉᶜᵗˢ ᵐᵃʸ ᶦⁿᶜˡᵘᵈᵉ ᵘⁿᶜᵒⁿᵗʳᵒˡˡᵃᵇˡᵉ ᶠᵃʳᵗᶦⁿᵍ⁾
Some good advice here I would mound slightly if you can add some organic matter it would help . Potatoes might come out a bit strangely shaped ,they best crop to grow first up to start developing a good soil
Potatoes are really sturdy. Just dig them up and plant them higher. Hill them with compost or old rotted leaves as they grow.
They can’t be at the bottom of a trench that holds water; they will rot. They need good drainage.