The mulch in our potato bed has already begun its transformation into beautiful rich garden soil, and the potatoes aren’t looking too bad either. Just over 3 weeks ago, following an approach I’ve used for the past couple years, I planted seed potatoes in a thick mulch of leaves and used coffee grounds that were collected last fall and spent the whole winter outside. I also added worm castings full of red wigglers and their cocoons to each planting hole. I’m counting on the red wigglers and native earthworms to help transform the mulch into beautiful garden soil and produce worm castings that will stimulate the growth of our potatoes.
As the potatoes grew over the past few weeks, I gradually hilled them up with more leaves, used coffee grounds, and worm castings, along with compost, comfrey, and a little green yard waste. But this weekend the potatoes were tall enough that I needed to hill them up in earnest to keep the plants from falling over and to provide enough cover for the growing tubers below.
OYR is all about growing a lot of food on a little land using sustainable organic methods, while keeping costs and labor at a minimum. Emphasis is placed on improving soil quality with compost, mulch, and compost tea. No store-bought fertilizers, soil amendments, pesticides, compost activators, etc. are used.
Featured Videos:
Growing Potatoes & Building Soil at the Same Time: http://youtu.be/uw8qpDFnLX0
How to Make and Apply Compost Tea:
http://youtu.be/_4VKLtDuzD8
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