Allotment Gardening

hi all   just watched  a video on this  the guy dug a trench  lined it with lime an manure////he said the lime keeps away the slugs an worms     is this right 

Wowwww,I was of the opinion that was a no no.encourages scab.best to plant them where bean /peas have been for nitrogen.

The lime does cause scab but you want to be growing your Brassica's after your beans/peas as they need more nitrogen also lime too.

Definatel line the trench with plenty of rotted muck though but not just in the trench try and incorporate it into the surounding 2ft of where you plant your potato's, think of where your potatoes will be produced and thats where you want your fertiliser/muck.

Andy

If this is any help-I've grown potatoes for 25 years on our farm.Plenty of muck,plough it in,rotovate and open ridges,plant sets very deep,ridge up and leave alone.Try to plant at correct depth and ridge up once as the soil settles and keeps greens to a minimum.Now I am retired I carry out the same type of regime BUT I apply a liberal amount of slug pellets in the opened seedbed.NO SLUG DAMAGE.If that is acceptable it will stop your slug waste.I haven't had the * or cancer yet.Please may I apologise for being crude.
As for lime.It will cause scab,but it is only skin deep.If you scrape/peel the skins then you will still have lovely tasty tatties.      John.

If I use muck round spuds I get about 50% slug damage so now I just use BFB. The lack of slug wastage means I can plant fewer seeds and still get the same yield.

Bfb?

Last year I tried sprinkling slug pellets (the organic variety) in the holes where I planted the potatoes and very little slug damage compared to previous years. I don't know whether it was the pellets that did the trick, or whether it was the nematodes I applied a couple of times, or maybe the warm dry second half of summer.

I find that I only get slug damage with maincrop varieties. If I have earlies or second earlies I get almost no slug damage. For this reason I stick with second earlies for potatoes I want to store Kestrel is a favourite) - less chance of blight and slug free - win, win!

Very similar to my experience in the past. So, these days, outside of my luxury first earlies, I will grow some 1/2 earlies for short term storage through to November/December. Red Duke of York fit the bill.
 
My main croppers are desiree, as they really do seem to bulk up quite quickly before any slugs get in on the act. I would love to plant more King Edwards but they are a bit slower and tend to suffer more.
It's all about insurance and getting a mixed harvest capable of lasting in storage through to February.

i tried using rabbit manure mulch one year and found that the they put more foliage on and got a smaller crop. i now don't add anything to my spuds, just plant after brassicas so prob some fertiliser left in the soil.