[Charlie's Chickens]

Hi All,

Myself and Hubby have recently got round to clearing an area of our garden that was a flower bed but has been 'designated' our veg plot.

The area of the garden in question was originally a 'tip' for the previous owners with lots of garden rubbish piled up and was wild with nettles (I understand this is a sign of good earth?).

When we moved in we intially converted it in to a (massive) flower bed and over the course of 7 years have put lots of bark down to help surpress the weeds.

Just recenty we have converted half to a chicken run and are now converting the other half to a veg plot with 2 4ft x 12ft beds in.

Sorry a long winded way round to my question  but thought the history of the land may help.

I have been doing lots of reading on crop rotation and ground prep and I am now a little concerned that as I wish to grow potatoes I should have started this project in the autumn, i,e, digging in manure!  I did think maybe I could add it now and then plant but I have just read this may not be a good idea? Causes scab???

The earth we have is a lovely dark colour and fairly crumbly (especially after the chickens have been over it  ). I am going to get a testing kit to check it's PH level, but do you think i may be worth trying potatoes as the ground is??

My second question relates to 'earthing up' do I cover the whole plant or leave some leaves showing?

Any help appreciated

[Stevens706]

You can use well rotted manure without any problems or chicken pellets, as for earthing up you cover all the plant as you see it growing through.

[Charlie's Chickens]

Thanks for the reply 

I was planing to try some potatoes in a dustbin and some on our plot.

How many times do I need to 'earth up'

Thanks

Emma

[Yorkie]

Hi Emma

Glad to hear your spud plans are coming along 

Have another look at your 'earthing up thread', you might find it answers your question about earthing up

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=31323.0

[Aidy]

Be aware that Chicken pellets are high in Nitrogen, spuds need a higher potassium content (if me memory serves me), Nitrogen will give to much top growth.