[svalli]

Before planting I rototilled the soil and added granular fertilizer. The seed potatoes were just pushed beneath the soil through the slits, so they were not really deep.

I noticed that some varieties had grown many potatoes away from the stem and potatoes were either below the soil or just under the plastic and no green potatoes. The ones which have Solanum phureja crossed in them had the tubers close to the stem, so the potatoes on the top had got green in them. Those varieties may need some organic mulch or a bit of soil put on top of the opening in the plastic.

This was definitely so easy way to grow potatoes that we may skip doing it the traditional way. This takes more manual work during planting, but yield is much better. I can easily grow what we eat in three 1m x 20m beds. Once again we had to empty the root cellar from sprouted potatoes, which we grew for my father-in-law last year, so he may also now admit that there will be no famine even the cellar does not burst from potatoes at fall.

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