harry wrote in news:26e78d18-c7b5-4306-bfc0-
:

If it's that windy, you want to be thinking about fixing up some
windbreaks.
You will never get stuff to grow without.

Well, it mainly gets very windy in Winter, when I have no vegetabes
growing. The only problem I had last Summer was when my bean poles got
blown over. I will have to devise a more sturdy beanpole structure for next
season.

Going back to the sheet mulching topic, I am thinking of buying a large
piece of the woven polypropelene weed membrane to cover both my vegetable
beds.

Will this preclude me from growing potatoes (or at least, being able to
harvest them easily)? If anyone has grown pototoes under weed membrane, I'd
like to read how you harvest them...

Al

Best wishes for 2012, everyone.

"AL_n" wrote in message
...
harry wrote in news:26e78d18-c7b5-4306-bfc0-
:

If it's that windy, you want to be thinking about fixing up some
windbreaks.
You will never get stuff to grow without.

Well, it mainly gets very windy in Winter, when I have no vegetabes
growing. The only problem I had last Summer was when my bean poles got
blown over. I will have to devise a more sturdy beanpole structure for
next
season.

Going back to the sheet mulching topic, I am thinking of buying a large
piece of the woven polypropelene weed membrane to cover both my vegetable
beds.

Will this preclude me from growing potatoes (or at least, being able to
harvest them easily)? If anyone has grown pototoes under weed membrane,
I'd
like to read how you harvest them...

Al

Best wishes for 2012, everyone.

Al I inherited a huge chunk of very overgrown land when I bought a house in
Leicester. I 'hacked' the weeds down to ground level, laid a strip of
compost down, covered this with 3 ft wide Poly, covered the edges with earth
so the wind wouldn't get under, cut a cross on the middle of the Poly every
2 foot or so and shoved a spud into the compost. Did this with 2 or 3 strips
across the land. (Didn't cover it all, it was half an acre). Harvested the
spuds by lifting the Poly, picking the most suitable spuds and put the Poly
back.

When I harvested the lot in the end, I gave sacks of spuds to all the
neighbours :-))

I ALWAYS get on well with my neighbours :-))

The land now? A couple of blocks of flats!

Mike


--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

"'Mike'" wrote in
:


Al I inherited a huge chunk of very overgrown land when I bought a
house in Leicester. I 'hacked' the weeds down to ground level, laid a
strip of compost down, covered this with 3 ft wide Poly, covered the
edges with earth so the wind wouldn't get under, cut a cross on the
middle of the Poly every 2 foot or so and shoved a spud into the
compost. Did this with 2 or 3 strips across the land. (Didn't cover it
all, it was half an acre). Harvested the spuds by lifting the Poly,
picking the most suitable spuds and put the Poly back.


Mike, That sounds like and excellent labour-saving approach. I recently
acquired a big chunk of land too, which I haven't started to tackle yet. It
is overgrown with tall grass and weeds, but the underlying soil is very
decent - so your method sounds highly appealing!

I am surprised that your potatoes' roots managed to penatrate the original
ground surface, considering that you didn't loosen it up or dig it over.
But obviously they did, and that's really good to know..

Al

"AL_n" wrote in message
...
"'Mike'" wrote in
:


Al I inherited a huge chunk of very overgrown land when I bought a
house in Leicester. I 'hacked' the weeds down to ground level, laid a
strip of compost down, covered this with 3 ft wide Poly, covered the
edges with earth so the wind wouldn't get under, cut a cross on the
middle of the Poly every 2 foot or so and shoved a spud into the
compost. Did this with 2 or 3 strips across the land. (Didn't cover it
all, it was half an acre). Harvested the spuds by lifting the Poly,
picking the most suitable spuds and put the Poly back.


Mike, That sounds like and excellent labour-saving approach. I recently
acquired a big chunk of land too, which I haven't started to tackle yet.
It
is overgrown with tall grass and weeds, but the underlying soil is very
decent - so your method sounds highly appealing!

I am surprised that your potatoes' roots managed to penatrate the original
ground surface, considering that you didn't loosen it up or dig it over.
But obviously they did, and that's really good to know..

Al


Hi Al.

The spud roots didn't penetrate what was left after this wonderful beastie
had reduced everything to 'ground' level ..... (do you like that one;-)?

http://www.oldlawnmowerclub.co.uk/mo...76-atcorot.htm

they 'laid their spuds' (like the chicken/egg link?) into the compost on the
surface, but everything under was dead :-)

As a matter of interest, I applied for planning permission to keep chickens
on this land, not expecting it as it was bounded by 28 houses. Your right, I
didn't get it. Planning Authority wanted living accommodation on it, thus
the blocks of flats. I didn't mind :-)))))))))

Mike
ps

One of the lemmings has wished me a Happy New Year by email :-)))

Thank you :-))

--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................