PLANTING AND CULTIVATION OF POTATOES DIRECTLY IN COMPOST - MY REVIEWS

When preparing land for planting the most popular vegetable garden crop, it is quite possible to do without fertilizers and other chemicals. And at the same time bring benefit to ... a plot with berries.

POTATO IN PLACE OF CURRANT

What do I want to tell you about? Yes, about potatoes. Although, to admit, if I had been told about this a few years ago, I would have only laughed in response. What other potatoes on six acres? I have three wooden buildings there, two greenhouses, an abundance of raspberry and currant bushes, flower beds and, in addition, a large lawn for children's games. And where should I keep it? There is no cellar on the site, and there is no suitable place in a city apartment either. And why bother with all this, if in the store you can always buy potatoes inexpensively? And I feel sorry for my strength.

But a dacha is a dacha in order to change your worldview. And the magazine also played a role: in each issue several letters are printed about growing potatoes, but such interesting ones!

And I decided the year before last to change the principles and try to tinker with potatoes. Well, if a desire appeared, then a suitable place for this culture was found on the site: I chose a sunny plot along the fence. There earlier currants were planted in dense rows - the bushes grew and began to interfere with each other, so they had to significantly thin out them. After the currants, there remained excellent fertile land, which I chose and spread to the beds for greens and vegetables. It turned out to be pits.

During the summer, I began to throw all the weeds weed out into them, and not into the compost. By the fall, they were full, but I continued to put the grass there. As a result, slides of stems and roots were formed, mixed with the ground.

Then, near the fence, I cut out the wild grapes that interfered with me, and at the same time the thorny pink rosehip, which I transplanted into the clearing outside the site. And one more free strip, one meter wide and three meters long, remained from these "extra" plants. True, it was covered with solid sod, which there was no longer either the strength or the time to dig. What to do with it? And I began to put the weeds and all the plant residues in place of the former pits. So my mounds of weeds and went away before winter. =

But do not think that my compost heap was starving - she had enough mowing grass, kitchen waste and residues from weeding.

The fact is that I'm greedy for organic matter, I can't stand anything for the site. Many summer residents in our SNT throw all the tops into a special pit on the border of the partnership, but I give everything soft to the compost to be eaten by His Majesty. And all the branches left after trimming the bushes, together with the dried tops of tomatoes and cucumbers, I burn to get ash .. During the season, three or four buckets of this wonderful top dressing "burn up".

But back to the main topic. By the spring of 2020, the organic mounds had settled. Well, you can prepare for landing. In early April, I treated the tubers with a solution of a natural biofungicide, let them turn green in the light, warmed them up near the battery for three days and put them on meat trays.

Then she fell asleep with sawdust mixed with a small amount of earth, poured it, carefully covered it with rags and put it on a closed loggia, where the temperature is kept within 12-15 °. I regularly checked the moisture level of the sawdust so as not to overdry and flood the planting material.

By May 8, my potatoes had become "mustache", having sprouted 8-12 cm long and many white roots. In general, it was ready to go (photo 1). And I planted it according to the lunar calendar, on the waning moon.

The process itself took only 10 minutes. And this is without digging the earth with a shovel and without breaking your back! After all, the plot for potatoes was loose, almost fluffy.

I dug out small depressions, added a pinch of superphosphate and ash to them, spread the tubers and covered them first with last year's, slightly already rotted weeds and straw, which I collected with a rake on my lawn after winter (photo 2).

In total, I planted 11 Udacha tubers, which I bought in a regular store. By the way, looking ahead, I will say that if you decide to buy planting material in a store, then take a simple potato, i.e. even dirty, with remnants of earth. And do not buy a washed yellow or pink "foreign" - there will be no sense in planting it (at least in our country, in the Middle Lane).

I foresee bewilderment: why was it necessary to raise the fuss over 11 tubers? Good question. I answer. I do not grow vegetables for storage, especially since my whole family lives in the country all summer. Oh. Last year, with all these nightmare quarantines, they didn't even look into the city at all: we all worked remotely, in the house there is wired fast Internet, we all have laptops.

All greens and vegetables came to the table from our small beds. Already in mid-July, I cooked borsch from my "ingredients", which, as they say, were within walking distance - literally three meters from the pan. And, to be honest, they are tastier than store-bought ones.

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See also: "Dutch way" of planting and growing potatoes

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POTATO IN COMPOST: 3 OUTPUTS AND 4 REMARKS

The post-planting maintenance of the potatoes was minimal.

But I strictly followed one rule: until June 10, I regularly mulched the plants with all the weeds weeded out on the site.

Let me emphasize: only potatoes got all such organic matter.

And it's not just about top dressing or preserving the looseness of the earth: it's just that in our area the mentioned date is the end date for return frosts. And if you do not cover the young leaves with grass, they may freeze up. Well, then the weeds were distributed selectively: one bucket - for compost, the other - for potatoes. I finished hilling it at the end of June, when it bloomed (photo 3).

The advantages of the described method, as they say, are obvious:

• you don't need to work as a hoe;
• additional feeding is also not required, since the necessary nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium have already been introduced;
• there is no need for watering either: the rain will do everything by itself;
• weed mulch allows air and water to pass through and at the same time warms the potatoes.

At the end of July, she started digging in potatoes. Oh, and she was good! Young potatoes with butter and their own dill were liked by all households, without exception (photo 4).

From under each of the 10 bushes I collected 12-14 tubers of different sizes. The largest were 300-380 g. By September, I dug up all the potatoes. It turned out about two 10-liter buckets (photo 5). “Wait a second! - the attentive reader will exclaim, - we were talking about planting 11 tubers! " That's right, I just planted one thing for the sake of the purity of the experiment in the traditional way. And in the fall, I dug out only three potatoes from under it (photo 6). So draw your own conclusions.

Summing up, I want to say the following:

1. When germinating tubers in early April, you can get an early harvest in July.
2. No need to break and bend your back when growing potatoes.
3. After harvesting, the excellent fertile land can be used on vegetable and flower beds, and in the vacated pits it is possible to lay weeds "with a hill" before winter.
4. In the spring, the cycle will be repeated on a new plot. Of course, my method cannot be called industrial. But for ourselves, relatives, you can grow delicious (without chemicals!) Potatoes for the summer and autumn even on six acres. The main thing is to find a little sunny place in the corners of the site and not throw organic matter outside the territory.

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Reference by topic: Winter potatoes - planting and growing

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POTATOES IN COMPOST - OTHER VIDEO REVIEWS

© Author: Elena SILINA. P. Sofrino. Moscow region

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