"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
On Jan 30, 1:33?pm, "La Puce" wrote:
On 28 Jan, 17:18, PB wrote:
covehithe wrote:
[...]
Her neighbour has told her to plant the potatoes straight in
the
ground including in the grass strip without
any digging. The idea is to clear the ground [...]

Potatoes don't clear the ground, you have to dig to plant them,
dig to

hill them up and dig the final crop. Its the three diggings that
clear
the ground.Indeed. It's a very strange question though. It feels
that there's a
few different ideas and outcomes in there!

First, the idea to clear the ground is interesting. I suspect this
is
something to do with perhaps 'fertilising' the soil with say green
manure, and the idea that potatoes could just be the thing because
we
do say that potatoes are good as a first crop to 'clear' the
ground.
[...]

This whole question arises because British gardening and farming
books, no doubt sometimes uncritically copying one another, always
used to say "potatoes are a good clearing crop". This phrase entered
people's consciousness _without_ the rest of the chapter. It doesn't
mean potatoes are good at clearing: it means they're good crop to
grow
if _you're_ clearing a plot.

As other responders have said, potatoes don't do the clearing
themselves: it's just that all the work you have to do to give the
spuds a good start, plus earthing up, plus the digging you have to
do
to harvest them, prepares the ground well for subsequent rotations.
What potatoes will do, if and _only_ if, the cultivation has been
conscientious before and during their growth, is to some extent
shade
out some later germinating weeds; but this is a pretty insignificant
effect.

Sticking potato sets in a lawn would be a complete waste of time and
effort. There are no short cuts in gardening. Well, you can take
"short cuts", but they end up being longer than the direct route.

Potatoes can be grown very successfully on a lawn provided they are
well covered with hay and that has fertiliser added and the hay is
kept well watered and the hay level is kept topped up as the pototoes
emerge and as the hay collapses back on itself.

We now always grow our spuds this way as I always have spoiled hay
around. It's a good and very easy way of ending up with an enriched
bed for another crop in the next year's rotation.