No Dig Potatoes - Testing 3 Planting Methods

In this video I'm experimenting with three slightly different ways to set potatoes in motion at the beginning of the season. I want to see how well they can do with very little initial prepping. I'm hoping to learn about what the 'edge' is for what we can get away with and still get good yields.
Method 1 - Digging down in through the sod just a bit, flipping it and planting into the turned soil. This is closest to standard ways to plant, and definitely the most effort
Method 2 - Planting right at soil line, on top of sod that has been under mulch for a month or so, with a bit of compost to help boost planting
Method 3 - Pulling mulch aside, laying on ground, replacing mulch...
We'll use the same hilling, watering, supporting, etc of these potatoes moving forward. This is more of a test of initial planting technique.
I will certainly share update videos as the season progresses!

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Happy growing!

[dancingcedar]

I like the way that you model working quickly and gently. That teaches me a lot. Thank you for not speeding it up, so I can see the speed that you work at. Thank you for all your informative videos. Blessing :)

[ameliatribeofissachar]

This is wonderful idea. I can hardly wait to see what happens. I'm staying tuned in. Bless you and your precious wife.

[rosea]

I did method #1 a few months back (grass clippings instead of hay) and the plants are looking great! I prefer to just plant a few in grow bags, but with the current food supply issues and potential future ones, we have to grow more. I truly hope method #3 works because I'm going to stagger in some more potatoes and that would make things so much easier.

[dinam.]

Great that you are testing this. I did method 3. Did not work for me because of a slug problem. I live in a relatively wet area.

[robertoler]

I will be curious what you find. we plant a lot of potatoes on our farm (and I Have some going here at my flat in Istanbul). ourexperience in really clay soil is that some form of "raised" is best for good potatoes...and also they need some heavy manure. we have long time beds but we do "well" with more orless your middle effort. we put down a foot or so much mulch, compost, dirt, the potato and then about 8 inches of hay/ground up tree trimmings etc. Lots of water ...about 5 inch long spuds come

[fallenangelwi]

We got like 7 bags of sprouted potatoes from our local store that was going to throw them away. We also have some seed potatoes I placed used loose hay down onto tilled ground for a few weeks then came back moved the hay and placed the potatoes on top of the soil, covered with 4-5 handfuls of humus compost and covered with hay. We have such great success so far that we have already had to cover them again!!!! I'm praying this means a great harvest 🙏❤️. The green tops are very big and bushy

[libbyjensen]

This is a really fascinating experiment-I can't wait for your updates to find out how well each method works!

[megankelley]

Really curious to see how this plays out!

[luisrafaeldeterry]

Many thanks for your results, very interesting, best regards from Spain

[tonstril]

I love these before hopefully after scenarios.

[What..a..shambles]

I'm betting on the middle row, good luck 👍🏻

[gardenboots]

This is exciting stuff. Really looking forward to the updates!

[elisabethabildtrup]

I did method 3 last year. It was easy and the yield was very good, but I had huge problems with wireworms.

[rosedoucet]

I did method three with a small number of potatoes last year. It was very late, but I did get a few spuds. This year I planted 10 pounds using method 2 about a week ago... I’m hoping this works well. A neighbour gave me a few this week that I’ll probably try method 3 again with. Can’t wait to see how both our experiments work out!

[Green.Country.Agroforestry]

I'm betting on method 2 for a first year location .. thats what we did across the front yard, with wood chip mulch, and will go with 2 or 3 for next year, depending on how far along our decomp is.

[michaelsinclair]

Looking forward to the results on this one. The less motivated part of me really hopes method three does the business!
Nice to see you out in the sunshine at last, I have felt somewhat guilty being out in, for Scotland, warmth and sun this last couple of weeks.

Hope you all are well, Hi Stanley!

[krisyallowega]

I believe that you may achieve the highest yield from method 1. There may be access to nutrients from direct contact with the soil. They may all do quite well with the abundance of mulch for heat and moisture regulation.
I don't know about you Sean, but there are times when I go out into my garden spaces and I feel like a Greco-Roman God. (We will let those who want to research it do so at their leisure) It just feels empowering to see plants and trees wake up from their winter sleep.
Hope the weather cooperates with you this weekend, keep well
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[Wildearthculture]

Hey from Australia, thanks for your experimental creativity! is there a video for the results?

[elkhound]

good luck.the issues i have had with the deep straw/hay etc is rodents, mice, voles and rats. i grew a patch of fingerlings one year covering it with straw/hay and most of harvest had rodent damage on it. they moved right in and dug holes and burrows in the earth around that garden.i had a conventional patch of potatoes about 100 feet from this patch and no damage.

[BalticHomesteaders]

Method 3 is simply Ruth Stout method and it works great. We did both a 'light' version of method 2 (not much compost) and 3 last year as a test and had a great yield. This year we've moved this to our main growing field and done a big version on a bed that's 1m by 38m (3 x 125 ft). The food field soil was already broken as the field was ploughed in previous years which since moving here we've stopped. We put a thin layer of leaf mould compost on the soil before the hay was rolled over an spuds planted. I'm sure you'll be very pleased with the results and wont need to bother with method 1 next year :)