A neighbour had some spare chitted ’Charlotte’ seed potatoes when I got back from my Easter holiday, and inspired by Charles Dowding growing potatoes straight onto grass, I decided to give this a go. Now I do remember Charles Dowding saying that he weakened the grass first by covering it with cardboard for a few weeks (or was it months?) before starting, but the potatoes were ready to grow, so I thought I’d just give it a go. I simply put some compost on top a spare bit of grass, nestled the seed potatoes into the compost and then covered them with about another 6 inches worth.
About 7 weeks later, my spuds are coming on really well and neighbour Henry helped me to earth the trio up, carefully covering most of the new foliage with extra compost.
This extra compost will prevent the tubers from going green by stopping them coming into contact with daylight, and will hopefully give me a better yield of potatoes too, especially as they’re only growing in the soil above grass level. I shouldn’t be surprised at how well the potatoes are growing though, as the roots should be able to grow down through the grass, but I am delighted to be able to grow potatoes without the back-breaking digging that I normally employ and can’t wait to see the results of my (minimal) labours in the next month or so.