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We have been growing potatoes for years, but unlike my parents, I tried this idea completely by accident a few years ago and since then I haven’t done it any other way. I plant potatoes in June–July and harvest them gradually until December. The potatoes are beautiful, large and without a gram of fertilizer or hoeing. I recommend everyone try it – maybe as a small experiment.
Planting potatoes before haymaking: The secret of success
Last year we had hay that didn’t dry well, so before haymaking we were thinking about what to do with it.
I tried this idea – I simply divided the hay into piles (rows), left part of it just in a heap and put the sprouted potatoes directly into the hay.
Or we place them on the hay and cover with a second layer of hay.
And that’s it – the potatoes then needed no care, they grew by themselves. They like aerated soil and, moreover, they have everything they need in the hay, so there is no need to add any fertilizer. Just watch how beautiful and fast they grow!
Procedure:
- On undisturbed ground (with grass and weeds), I laid down cardboard.
- I watered and spread a little soil just to weigh down the cardboard.
- On top of that came about a 30/40 cm thick layer of straw, again a couple of shovelfuls of old substrate as ballast, and into that we threw the potatoes.
- We cover again with about a 30 cm layer of “straw”.
- Everything was thoroughly watered by fresh rain that day. That was really all.
It’s great even for small gardens, because one higher heap is enough, into which you stick a potato now and then.
The potatoes were really beautiful, like painted; even in December I pulled out about one or two kilos when I dismantled the heap. So my conclusion: definitely yes; if I had straw available, I certainly wouldn’t plant any other way. I didn’t even see the Colorado potato beetle while growing in the hay, but be very careful with slugs, they like the hay. So I scattered sawdust around the bed as protection against slugs and that did the trick. I didn’t even pre-sprout the potatoes.
