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Seed Companies

  • Royston-Petrie Seeds P.O. Box 1152 Ph: (61) 2 6372 7800 www.roystonpetrieseeds.com.au
  • Cornucopia Seed Cornucopia Seeds and Plants Ph (03) 5457 1230 http://cornucopiaseeds.com.au
  • Select Organic M.S 905, Lower Beechmont 4211 www.selectorganic.com.au Organic Seeds
  • GreenHarvest 52 Crystal Waters, M.S. 16, MALENY 4552 Ph: (07) 5494 4676 www.greenharvest.com.au
  • Greenpatch PO Box 1285, TAREE, NSW 2430 (02) 6551 4240 www.greenpatchseeds.com.au enquiries@greenpatchseeds.com.au
  • The Italian Gardener Allsun Farm, PO Box 8050, Gundaroo, New South Wales, 2620 (02) 6236 8173 www.theitaliangardener.com.au info@theitaliangardener.com.au Italian vegetable seeds
  • Kings Seeds PO Box 2785, Bundaberg, QLD 4670, Australia Tel: 07 4159 4882 www.kingseeds.com.au
  • Phoenix Seeds PO Box 207 , Snug, TAS, Australia 03) 6267 9663 Only postal Very unusual seeds
  • Diggers www.diggers.com.au info@diggers.com.au Fantastic company become a member and help them in their work, they have two sites, St Erith (nr Daylesford) and Heronswood (Mornington Peninsula) and when you become a member you get sent out a free magazine / newsletter
  • Eden Seed M.S. 905, Lower Beechmont 4211 (07) 5533 1107 www.edenseeds.com.au Lots of information botanical and taste
  • The Lost Seed The Lost Seed PO Box 321 SHEFFIELD TAS 7306 ph: 03 6491 1000 www.thelostseed.com.au Has a selection of very rare vegetables, and a great free download of sow what when chart

Saturday, July 18, 2009

No Dig Beds

Wire or Potato Cage Method with help from Diggers. Make a cylinder of chicken wire about 1m in diameter and support with 3-4 star pickets or strong garden stakes. Garden stakes were the cheaper option, as star pickets were $14 each and the hardware store didnt have them any how
. Prepare the soil at the base by digging it over well and adding compost or well rotted cow manure. As this is a no dig method, I put old carpet or newspaper or cardboard on the bottom and then a layer of well rotted garden compost. This has been mixed with chiken manure and sheep manure, so the potatos should go off!

.Add 4- 8 potatoes in the prepared soil and cover with pea straw and manure and a sprinkling of blood and bone

. As the plants grow add more straw, manure or compost so the tips of the potatoed are still visable. Repeat through season as the potatoes grow to however high the chicken wire is. I have lined my cages with plastic, cardboard old carpet to help reduce the light, the soil falling out the side and keep in the moisture.

Harvesting the potatoes
When the plant has flowered and the leaves begin to yellow you can 'bandicoot' under your potato plants and harvest new potatoes. These have a very thin skin and do not store well, but taste delicous
The main crop is harvested when the plant dies off. Dont water your potatoes any more. Leave the crop in the ground for 2-3 weeks when the plant has died off to let the skins thicken. You can then dig up your crop and store in a well ventilated but dark place. Save some potatoes for 'seed' for your next crop
Another No-Dig bed being started in the corner, I will plant potatoes in here this year but something else next year, probably another fruit tree

5 comments:

Onesimus said...

I tried this method two years ago and it was a dismal failure.

It was the worst potato crop I've had in the few years since I started my garden. Maybe I tried it on too large a scale. My wire enclosures were about 2.5 metres by 1.5 metres. It used a huge amount of straw and a lot of seed potatoes, but gave me less decent potatoes in return than I'd planted.

I've tried a different method each of the last three years.

The next one is the "Tatey Bag" purchased from Diggers Club. Hopefully with THIS method I'll finally get things right and get some good potatoes in the end.

I just don't have the knack when it comes to spuds.


Tim

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Growandmake.com said...

you can also do straw bale gardens. http://www.growandmake.com/straw_bale_garden/

organicfood said...

Organic gardening is beneficial, but not as important as organic farming. People should realize that organic food means a road towards a healthier way of living.

Unknown said...

This seems so difficult. I have limited space but I really want to try it. Since my yard is a former landfill the soil is great. But I've never tried potatoes. I'm really looking for plants that love or at least tolerate the shade well because the only place I have left is between my house & privacy fence. Any ideas?