Back in April (about 16 weeks ago), inspired by Charles Dowding’s experiments on his ‘no dig’ farm, I planted up three Charlotte potatoes straight on top of fresh grass as a ‘no dig’ growing experiment in our community front garden. I initially covered them with 6 inches of compost and then earthed them up just once after about 7 weeks.
Today, neighbour Julia and her daughter helped me dig up the crop to see how successful my trial had been. Although the potatoes had flowered a good few weeks ago, I left them to continue to grow as I was worried that the rain would have held them back a bit.
I needn’t have worried. Some of these are whoppers, not very ‘new potato’ in size, but I’m mightily impressed.
From the original potato trio, we harvested a very respectable 15lbs worth.
So there you have it. It works! And I’m never gonna dig again. (‘guilty trees I’ve got no sedum’-a Cantona-esque rendition for all those George Michael fans out there!)
P.s. More ‘no dig’ success with gorgeous heritage potatoes here
