On Sat, 21 May 2005 19:46:07 +0100, Janet Baraclough wrote:

The message 1116692183.17008b072ab3feb2e28ef6a8eb98a1ef@teran ews
from Tim Challenger contains these words:

Or, use a loose mulch over the soil surface, so that tubers form
just under the soil surface (but still in the dark from the mulch).
...

Would horse-stable manure/straw be any good? Probably to strong.
Well-rotted would be ok?

Well, I wouldn't want to pick my new potatoes out of a horse manure
mulch, no. Use that for lining the bottom of a potato trench before
planting; by the time you're lifting the main crop months later it will
have disappeared anyway.

Good point.


I use seaweed, or at my last place, dead bracken . Just pile on a thick
covering (6") after planting the potatoes. No need for earthing-up or
weeding. The haulms will make their own way through, and if there's a
risk of late frost you can just flick a bit of mulch over the leaves and
let them push through it all over again a few days later. Thick straw
would be okay, (but tends to blow around) or spent mushroom compost.

Seaweed is in short supply in northern Austria (where I am) :-(
Straw I can get, but as you say it'd probably blow around, we're in a
pretty windy spot. I think I've got the idea now.
Thanks for your help.

--
Tim C.