Why a trench for potatoes?

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boddy

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Why a trench for potatoes?
« on: April 21, 2014, 08:18 »
Hi,

I'm just back from a holiday and had  10 chitted potatoes left to put in. I dug a trench, added some chicken pellets and put in eight of the potatoes equally spaced out. I had two left to go in and was out of puff. So instead of digging a small trench for the remaining two I lazily dug two holes added the pellets as before and put the remaining seed potatoes in. It was very quick and less work, and it occurred to me....what is the advantage of digging a trench? Is there one? Or can I plant them all into a series of holes next time?
Any thought? I'm always happy to save work were I can.  :D
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Steveharford

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Re: Why a trench for potatoes?
« Reply #1 on: April 21, 2014, 08:23 »
I always put mine in holes unless I have enough comfrey to put in, in which case it makes more sense to lay it in the bottom of a trench first then plant on top.

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JayG

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Re: Why a trench for potatoes?
« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2014, 08:49 »
2 main reasons why I trench:

1) My soil is very light and autumn manuring/adding compost is not really an option (it mostly disappears!)
Far easier adding compost to a trench than trying to get a good amount of it under each spud in its own hole.

2) The excavated soil gives me much more material to earth up with, which if nothing else helps to keep the overall space required to grow spuds to a minimum (other plants can be grown where the mounds of soil were once level again.)

I don't have an allotment - I may well use a different technique if I were growing a few hundred rather than a few dozen spuds!  ;)
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Welsh Merf

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Re: Why a trench for potatoes?
« Reply #3 on: April 21, 2014, 09:50 »
Last year I put half of my spuds in trenches and the other half in holes - both methods turned out alright. However, in my first year of over-enthusiasm I planted enough spuds to feed a small town - this year I'll be planting no more than twenty!
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Spr0ut

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Re: Why a trench for potatoes?
« Reply #4 on: April 21, 2014, 09:57 »
Even less puff required - I pile rotted rabbit hutch bedding (I have a neighbour who shows bunnies and has loads of bedding) on the soil surface and bury my seed pots on the soil surface below. Then just pile more bedding as required instead of earthing up. A variation on the sheet composting theme.

You could put comfrey leaves underneath the bedding and place the spuds on that layer I guess or drive the comfrey down each spud hole as you part the bedding to plant.

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compostqueen

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Re: Why a trench for potatoes?
« Reply #5 on: April 21, 2014, 10:41 »
I never trench as I'm too idle. I still get lots of spuds  :tongue2:

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gavinjconway

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Re: Why a trench for potatoes?
« Reply #6 on: April 21, 2014, 10:46 »
2 main reasons why I trench:

1) My soil is very light and autumn manuring/adding compost is not really an option (it mostly disappears!)
Far easier adding compost to a trench than trying to get a good amount of it under each spud in its own hole.

2) The excavated soil gives me much more material to earth up with, which if nothing else helps to keep the overall space required to grow spuds to a minimum (other plants can be grown where the mounds of soil were once level again.)

I don't have an allotment - I may well use a different technique if I were growing a few hundred rather than a few dozen spuds!  ;)

Spot on JayG...
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Snoop

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Re: Why a trench for potatoes?
« Reply #7 on: April 21, 2014, 10:50 »
If you have a look on the JBA Scottish seed potato suppliers' site, they have a number of videos on growing potatoes. In their sowing video, they just dig holes, which is what I've done this year. And I agree, it's a lot less effort!

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mumofstig

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Re: Why a trench for potatoes?
« Reply #8 on: April 21, 2014, 11:30 »
There's another recent thread about planting spuds with a long handled bulb planter  ;)

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maxie

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Re: Why a trench for potatoes?
« Reply #9 on: April 23, 2014, 00:58 »
The thng is putting a garden in is a bit of graft,everyones always looking for an easy way to do things,i have myself in the past with not much success.You always get these new starters at the allotments who think its gonna be easy,but the best gardens are usually the ones who dig the most and put the most manure in and fertilizer.
Thats why you see fields of taties in trenches,cos if there was a better way the farmers would be doing it beleive you me.
So dig deep,plenty of sh***,and hope for the best  :lol:

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BabbyAnn

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Re: Why a trench for potatoes?
« Reply #10 on: April 23, 2014, 05:35 »
I find digging a trench easier than digging a series of holes, and much easier to layer stuff and compost.  As my plot is heavy clay riddled with marestail I feel compelled to dig it over first anyway, then adding lots of compost (including some used compost from growbags or from potted plants from the greenhouse) means I end up with a cleaner crop at the end of the season.  The following year, the addition of the compost which would have been moved about during the harvesting, has improved the soil quality making it easier to turn over ready for other crops such as carrot and parsnip, so digging trenches has a dual purpose for me.

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cadalot

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Re: Why a trench for potatoes?
« Reply #11 on: April 23, 2014, 09:26 »
I have a soil testing auger that I use to plant mine and this year I have a sheet of weed membrane with hole cut in and have augered the hole through the membrane a handful of compost in each hole to bed the seed potato in and more to cover the chits then backfill.

I'm not building up this year at all and hopefully not weeding thanks to the membrane     
2013-04-28 - Auger -S.jpg
2014-04-13 (02) Potatoes.jpg
« Last Edit: April 23, 2014, 15:39 by cadalot »

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3759allen

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Re: Why a trench for potatoes?
« Reply #12 on: April 23, 2014, 10:02 »
i plant mine in holes, but i do add compost/ well rotted manure and dug in to break up the soil first. i have quite sandy soil so this doesn't take too long.

this year i heavily earthed up and keep covering with rabbit manure when planting (same as in the fields). i've got plenty to do everywhere else in the garden and house so wanted it all done in case i can't get time to earth up. next year i will try more earthing up with manure rather than so much digging.

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Godhelm

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Re: Why a trench for potatoes?
« Reply #13 on: April 23, 2014, 14:38 »
Planted my maincrop in holes (or rather my 11-year old son did) with a sprinkle of growmore and  pellets in each hole.  Felt very comfortable with this approach based on Beechgrove Garden!

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TheWhiteRabbit

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Re: Why a trench for potatoes?
« Reply #14 on: April 28, 2014, 21:16 »
Excuse the necro post but I realised after planting out my seed pots this week that I do a bit of both! I basically rake out a shallow trench and then dig little pockets for each seed pot to reach the required depth. This way I have a line of raked out soil which is ready for earthing up but don't have the work of having to dig a 6" deep trench.



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