[Sparkyrog]

I keep hearing people saying about digging a trench for their spuds ! Never done it in my life ,gardening for 30+ years .   
 I use a good old fashioned potato  planter . Are they so hard to find ?

[mumofstig]

Easy to find 
http://www.allotment-garden.org/store/equipment/sneeboer-potato-planter

but don't like that price   

this is more realistic

But I'll stick with a trench because it suits my soil better.

[Sparkyrog]

I see your point, mine was my Grandfathers lol ! It is like a hinged v shape 

[LotuSeed]

That seems like it would actually be more work than digging a trench😧. Am I missing something?

[Sparkyrog]

Bearing in mind you have already broken the ground up it is actually very simple , you put a spud in the v shape step on it to press it into the ground ,then just close the handles which opens the v and leaves your spud about 4 or 5 inches down 

[Sparkyrog]

like this

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y_W3NlNAxw8/UJuYon9nqhI/AAAAAAAAADw/KYFGRpVeSnY/s1600/potato_planter_lrg.jpg

[Kristen]

I've dug a trench, manured it, planted spuds, backfilled the trench.

If I had prepared the trench months before I could have used a trowel (or a bulb planter thingie), but that would be two steps

[jrko]

on hands and knees, use trowl to dig down in freshly tilled soil.  Deposit potato in hole and cover with the spoil

Trench 

[mumofstig]

some of us on sandy soil plant deeply in a trench
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=53581.msg637316#msg637316

[Sparkyrog]

Interesting thread Mum  it would appear we all do things differently !

[Goosegirl]

on hands and knees, use trowl to dig down in freshly tilled soil.  Deposit potato in hole and cover with the spoil

Trench 

Works for me too.

[grinling]

I dig a trench then use a bulb planter to make a deeper hole.
Farmers make, sow and pile up for their spuds which have just been planted.

[DD.]

Hilling up in stages several times in the season is good for keeping the weeds down. Of course you could use the farmer's "hill up in one go and pour on some chemicals" approach! 

[grinling]

I must admit that quite a lot of crops are treated with stuff, but not seen tractors out in the spud fields until harvest, but will ask a farmer if they do.
You can do the no hilling up and use other methods, for 1st and 2nd by black matting, but I have used grass clippings for extra mounding.

[Growster...]

I tried using an ordinary bulb planter last year, and couldn't really get them to the depth necessary, so this year, I 'double tilled' a row to make a shallow trench, then pulled out another three inches or so with the 'Growstada' (a Chillington hoe with the blade cut to a point), trickled in some Blood fish and bone, planted the spuds about a foot apart and covered them all up using said 'Growstada'...