A tale of two Potato beds...

The seed potatoes arrived and we decided to try two different methods of growing.

last october we put down newspaper, cardboard and straw to prepare the bed.

the newspaper and cardboard were broken down over the Winter

we added topsoil over the newspaper/cardboard mush

5 lbs of potatoes from Johnny's Selected Seeds

The first method is to move aside the mulch and add soil.  Plant 12 inches apart and cover with soil and straw mulch. We were working around stumps and roots of the trees that were removed. They should feed the garden as they break down.

planted 12 inches apart

covered with soil and replaced the straw - added extra straw
and watered in

bed as it was

Seed potatoes - same 12 inches apart and covered with thick layer of mulch.

Around the potato beds, I planted African Marigolds from Seeds of Change.  They are tall bushy Marigolds that grow 3-4 ft. high and are great at attracting insects that are beneficial as well as distracting harmful pests from plants they would damage.

The second method is to just place the seed potatoes on the newspaper/ cardboard straw and cover with another thick layer of mulch.  So we have the two types of beds and an experiment to see which will grow first - if there is any difference between the two, etc. 

 One thing I have already observed is that the thick layer of mulch does retain a lot of moisture and will provide what the potatoes need to grow. 

Next the sweet potatoes should be arriving!