Potatoes Planted

On Saturday I took my chitted potatoes (see right) down to the allotment to plant them. I knew it wouldn't be a quick job, but it ended up taking me all afternoon. First I removed the black plastic sheeting that had been covering the ground. Then I dug in the manure that I had spread on that area in the Autumn. The ground felt a lot more moist than it always used to before I added the manure, which is a great sign. Next I dug four trenches, mounding up the earth in between the rows. They were probably a spades depth by a spades width. I added a few barrow loads of manure to these trenches, just enough to cover the bottom, then I placed some sheets of newspaper over the top of the manure.

My plan had been to add a decent layer of grass cuttings next. On Friday I had mowed the lawns for the first time this year in order to have the cuttings ready to add to the potato trenches. But unfortunately the lawns weren't quite ready to be cut as they still hadn't grown that much this year, so I had a fairly small about of cuttings to use. This meant that it was more like a dusting of grass cuttings that I added on top of the newspaper in the trenches. Finally I added the chitted potatoes, four rows of 14, and raked the mounded soil back over the top. Once that was finished I pegged some fleece over the surface to keep off the worst of the frosts. (See photo below of the potatoes in the trenches before the soil was replaced over them)