Permanent Potatoes

Our garden is unique in that it is never tilled. We keep the beds permanently covered with leaf and grass clipping mulch usually renewed with each planting. Our beds are about five feet wide and made with sloping sides, without any sort of construction material such as lumber or masonry. We have observed, over a period of years, that if all potatoes are not removed at harvest time the remaining ones grow back to grow another crop.

Potatoes are unique in that they are actually a perennial crop but they are usually grown as annuals. Another unique feature of potatoes is that after the potatoes mature, they go through a dormant period where they will not sprout new growth for a period of several weeks to a few months. This window of time is their storage period that we all observe if we bring a bag of potatoes home from the market and leave it around for a while.

We now replant some of the potato tubers in the shoulders of our beds at the time of harvest. When a spring crop is harvested in early summer and some are replanted, many varieties will remain dormant in the ground during the heat of summer to regrow a new crop in the fall. These can remain in the ground until harvested in late fall and where soil does not freeze grow a new crop again in spring. There is some risk here in that the tops will freeze off potatoes if there is a late frost but this can be hedged against by leaving whole potatoes in the ground so there will be enough energy in them to regrow after being nipped.

Potatoes vary a great deal by variety. There are early, mid-season and late varieties based on how long it takes for a crop to grow and mature. There are also varying lengths of the dormancy period which also varies by variety. By mixing potato varieties together in the same bed shoulder we are finding that a crop will almost always be assured. The effect is, in a mild climate such as we enjoy here in USDA Zone 9, we can plant and harvest potatoes at just about any time of year. We've enjoyed nice success just using potatoes from the market for seed but we usually grow fingerling potatoes which that are enjoyed by gourmet restaurant chefs and upscale clients at the farmers market.

Visit http://www.wholesystemsag.org for more information on raised bed, permanent mulch growing. It's the easiest way to grow vegetables in that there is no need to till or make compost and mulching greatly reduces weed growth.

If you want to grow a major portion of your food, potatoes are the flagship crop being much more productive, as measured by caloric value than wheat. Potatoes come from the new world and when introduced to Europe they fueled a substantial leap in population there and became almost national foods of Ireland, Germany and Russia. With hard economic time ahead, think potatoes.

Good growing all,

John Warner

Hi John,

Huh? No replies? I'm reading at the link you referred to right now. And I'm not a Beginner either. Very interesting so far. But the backyard here is so full of crab grass! And I own no equipment.

~* Robin

John: Thanks for this very interesting info! Do you do anything special to keep the pH balanced? Any problems with disease in the dedicated bed?

Robin: Place a couple of layers of heavy cardboard over your crabgrass -- the size of the bed you want to grow. Place a couple of inches of aged garden compost or store bought planting mix on top, then a layer of straw or dried leaves, and another layer of garden compost, and then an inch of grass clippings when you have them, and a layer of garden compost or topsoil on top of all that -- go up about 8 to 12 inches if you can. Then plant into the bed as John suggests above. The crabgrass below will be smothered and you will have a potato bed similar to John's.

Robin,

I second Stephen's suggestions. This is exactly how to easily and cheaply make no-till beds. Only thing different is I would add at least four layers of cardboard. That grass can sometimes be rather persistent.

Stephen,

I love your suggestions on how to make the no-till beds. I have seen some rather elaborate "recipes" for this, but as you've also discovered it's not really necessary to get that fussy with it.

John,

I am a non-till convert. Partly because it's such a sensible way to go, but the other part is that my "soil" simply cannot be worked as is. I have neither the strength nor the equipment nor the patience to amend it. Consequently, I have established no-till beds on top of this red junk.

This winter I have been working on a new space about 25'x40' to put in squash, melons, and cucumbers. I have another space about 10'x15' (which can eventually be made bigger) that I am going to make into a potato bed as you suggest.

Do you have any problem with the winter rains rotting the seed potatoes left in the bed?

I do have one small sandy area on the edge of the property. So far, the only thing I've gotten to grow well there are sweet potatoes, and I had a terrific crop this year. I suspect the sand is seriously lacking in nutrients. For the foreseeable future, I'm just going to use this area to expand my sweet potato growing. It appears that I need to plant enough for me as well as a happy raccoon. LOL.



Karen

Great read here! Wonderful info!