How to create a 'no dig' potato patch

June 18 2012 (that's winter where we are)

Today I put the spuds in, they'll be ready by xmas, perhaps a bit before!  We are still eating last years spuds - they are all out of the ground and stored in a dark dry box in the kitchen.

Step 1 - find a patch - it can be lawn, or weedy, or in this case I let the chooks get into it and they have scratched most of the weeds away.

You will also need sheep poo, and cardboard or newspaper to lay across the weeds, and a few bails of hay (and seed potatoes).  My cardboard is party broken down as its been sitting out side for months.  If it isnt its not the best thing to use as it wont drain as well as newspaper.  This will probably result in rotten spuds - not your intention!  I had a bag of seaweed collected ages ago, and some half composted garden refuse that has been heaped against the rear fence for about a month.  I am ready - first I cleared the half broken down garden waste that was against the fence.

Now lay down the cardboard (saved since xmas - everything gets used . . . eventually), and wet it down and spread the spuds about 60 cm apart - this patch is almost 3m x 3m.

Cover with straw - it drains well - I used 2 bails and they were fairly sodden (forgot to cover them when we bought them).  It ended up about 40 cm tall - at this point I added 1 bag of sheep poo and the sea weed, and then the half mulched garden refuse.  I put old sleepers around 2 sides and the fence and some wire around the other sides - to keep it contained (should the chooks get it).  Then I added a second bag of sheep poo.  Much of the garden waste had horse poo mixed into it.  Hose poo isnt a great manure for the garden - but if its on offer it's one of the many things I add to the mix.

It should be watered in - but rain is no doubt only days away so I'll wait.

You can see how high the straw is by looking at the rear fence - its quite deep.  Now there's nothing to do but wait until they grow - they dont need extra watering or they are likely to rot.  Once they have been dug up (Feb / March) this patch will be loaded with earth worms and the soil will be magnificent and ready for the next crop.  Here's what the patch looked like after last years no dig potato patch - just loaded with worms