i would to thank you charles. this year i have grown potatoes using your method, and the crop was amazing. in the years of growing them, the tradional way, i had struggled to get a decent amount per plant, despite my efforts. this year with a little effort, they have been amazing and the replanting into another crop is so much faster than before. thank you
There's something about growing potatoes. I don't know what it is. They're not the money makers, they're not a high value crop, but somehow I don't feel I'm a gardener if I'm not growing them. They're perhaps my favourite crop to grow. They are beautiful plants, and it feels really good to do some potato harvesting - or watch some as well.
Yeah they’re my favourite too, along with onions and tomatoes…. For us in the North (Canada) they are also the main sustenance calorie crop available, for homesteaders. We can also grow sweet potatoes in our season too, barely.
I think the big difference for me is just how much better home-grown potatoes taste - I went my whole life thinking potatoes were much of a muchness because I'd only had supermarket ones, trying my own was a real eye-opener!
I would say they're pretty high value (for my family at least) because they're so versatile! We eat a lot of potatoes in our house so they always get used 👍
You're the man Charles! I've dabbled with your no dig method in the past, but this is the first growing season I've gone all out ( Australia ) It was a bit of work in the beginning... I grow on sloping land, so there was a lot of labour getting all the compost down to my beds, also a bit of cost to buy the compost... but the benefits far out way the initial cost/labour. I've hardly had to do any weeding, and that was always a constant battle for me in the past, taking up so much time, and I still could never really keep on top of it. I also notice that the drainage has been so much better, despite having a really wet season here. On top of that, I've had minimal pest damage, compared to an old garden a few meters away that is getting smashed by slugs. And yeah, all my veg are growing like crazy, best results I've ever had. So yeah, I'm fully converted now, mate! I'm working on setting up some compost bays close to the beds to cut down further on cost/labour in the future. Thanks for all the knowledge you've shared.
What i loved about this particular video(besides Charles) is the bugs. When the plastic was removed, i enjoyed seeing the bugs scurry. And watching a bug climb up Charles hand was awesome. Thank you
I recently bought a pocket knife as a Christmas gift for a young man. I just noticed that you use the same knife, and I’m so pleased to know that my gift will be as useful and hardworking as yours is. And as always, beautiful potatoes.
Here in Belgium we wait till the plant is fully dried before harvesting the potatoe. You got me thinking. That's probably cause the farmers are doing it like that, we just copy. I'll follow your advice this year to harvest when the leaves turn yellow. I'm planting Obama potatoes since a few years keeping the small ones from last year's harvest. Works well.
Great to hear. For lunch today we had roast potatoes from these ones, harvested 10 months ago! My son commented how tasty they are, and a lovely texture, stored in paper sacks in a building near the house
Thanks for the video, this is my first season growing no dig in South Africa so learning tonnes and continuously inspired by Charles' videos. I was just wondering when to harvest my potatoes, well now I know! Thanks 👌
They say that the smallest potatoes are ready when the plant first blooms, but...it can disturb the soil for future larger potatoes if you dig them up...
I love learning what plants will grow with little or no help lol. My okra plants and sweet potatoes pretty much took care of themselves. I will give potatoes a go this spring!
Honestly, I've always been watching all your videos and whenever I watch, it's giving me a calm and relaxing vibes and a positive energy. Also, your videos help me relieve my stress. Always take care and so is your family. Thank you for always giving us these wonderful videos ❤
Watching from South Africa. Thank you for another wonderful informative video. Your gardening knowledge is so sensible and wise from a long and successful gardening career. God bless!
Fantastic harvest!! We were able to harvest (in the snow) and have for Christmas dinner last night;) Thanks for everything, looking forward to putting you're calendar to good use !! Cheers
Lovely harvest and great timing information. We had such a disappointing potato harvest this past summer. Come to find out that was pretty much the case in much of the country. I’ve been sitting for several months trying to decide where to put the potatoes this coming spring. They are fantastic for erasing lawn.
Charles many times in your videos I have to pause to admire the beautiful garden and/or scenery ... If I commented each time I'm afraid I'd spam up your comment section.
This is so timely, thank you. I've grown my little garden for years now but I've never planted potatoes. They are cheap and abundant in Atlantic Canada 🇨🇦 but the province of Prince Edward Island is having troubles with their potatoes. I decided to grow potatoes in one of my large raised beds this year. I ordered seed potatoes on December 5th! I'm a potato noob! I ordered 4 each of: Alta Blush, Bintje, Bridget, Chieftain and All Blue. Coming from Alberta and arriving in April. Time to binge all things potato 🥔 🥔🥔🥔🥔!
Morning Charles, boy it’s cold and rainy here in Arkansas today. Won’t be going out in the garden today. Got a bunch stuff out there growing though for the winter. I hope you don’t mind but I’m going to start a gardening class for my church in March and I’d like to mention you and your channel a lot. I have some of your books as reference guides for them. Thanks for your time and sharing. Love watching your harvest. (Old guy from Arkansas)🇺🇸
Hello Steven, and Happy New Year. I am delighted to hear that and appreciate you asking. I'm really keen to get this wonderful information out there and I'm sure that your church members will be delighted to know that there are ways of looking after Creation that are kind to soil organisms.
You're not wrong. We've had crazy weather in the UK too. This week for instance, the temp has been around 4°C today, and we're forecast a whopping 14°C on Thursday! Then it'll drop right back down again on New Year's Day! Really strange weather all year this year!
Hello. My name is Anastasia. I am from Russia. I also work in the garden. I love to grow everything without chemicals. I am glad that I found you that you love all ecological vegetables and fruits. The same person as I want to apply your method on my site and in our climate I have been making an experiment for a long time. I make compost but I haven’t used it yet using compost and animal fertilizers for digging I will try to make a video about the experiment and show my site Please write the address where to send the video Thank you for your experience advice patience This is a great work of health for you and your loved ones I don’t know if your method will suit me without digging, our groundwater is very close to the surface and after precipitation or after winter, we have water on the surface in the middle of the garden.
Hi Anastasia Thanks for writing and I look forward to seeing more. Water near the surface is a question of site or land drainage, as opposed to soil aeration. No dig should help is all I can say, because it maintains a better vertical structure of air passages, without the breakages from digging. Perhaps when you have a video, send us an email to admin@charlesdowding.co.uk and we shall see how to proceed.
Great video! That makes sense. a little mounding to prevent greening. Cool to see the transformation of your pastures; killing off weeds while providing food!
Yey Charles gives us a masterclass on growing the good old Spud = Potato. Charles they look great. A neighbour use to grow them in Plastic fertiliser bags he use to get a good crop out of them might try that next year. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and i wish you a Happy Healthy and Prosperous New Year
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Wasn't their a problem with a new dangerous fungicide in a lot of compost, straw, hay etc recently that kills home gardens? I noticed you used some store bought in one of your earlier videos. I can't have a compost pile here. How do I know which one to buy?
Charlotte is my favourite to grow too, but I keep mine in buckets. The smallest amount left behind can take two years to grow back too. Fascinating how tenacious these plants are, but also shows how great as a repetitively free food supply they are!
This past year our potatoes were just ready to harvest...and then it rained for two weeks. I should have gone out in the rain to harvest, but didn't. Voles and deer enjoyed some, though. We still got a good harvest in, but not what it could have been.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig wow! It was 4 degrees here on the East coast of Lincolnshire! And, windy, wet and altogether horrible! Not gardening weather, let alone having lunch in the garden!
@@gypsygem9395 ooo... that sounds unpleasant. You should try a summer Christmas, we had a cool 23c and a light breeze, had the leftovers from the 25 and fruits and ice-cream for dinner. Respect from Africa 🇿🇦
I'm trying an experiment. I've already planted some Casablanca using tubers from some of this years harvest. I had some woodchip available for free and decided to just dump it on the ground to kill the weeds. It is a thick layer. I had to grab it while I could, as it was dumped in the allotment area by someone, for anyone to get, and it's first in first serve, and I'm not passing up that opportunity. I buried the tubers in the woodchip right at the soil level, which is quiet deep. I'm going to see how that goes next year. I'm a bit concerned the tubers might rrot, or that the woodchip will stop the potato shoots from getting through. As I said before, it's quiet deep which is to protect from the cold. We'll see, as not much to lose from this after all and a lot to gain. I mean I've had volunteers from previous years grow successfully, so there's no reason I can't get away with this, maybe. Thanks for the tips by the way. It's always a pleasure to watch your videos. Very informative.
I was thinking last night how without bacteria and fungi life as we know it probably wouldn't be possible because our digestive system wouldn't work without them, the decay of dead organic matter would cease and nutrients in the soil would plummet and/or become inaccessible and eventually plants would struggle to grow at all. If you think about it a compost heap is probably a very similar biological process to our own digestion, nothing would decay without the bacteria and fungi present all around us (it would just dry out, crumble and turn into dust). Since the start of covid I have been careful keeping my hands, clothes and body clean but I think people need to remember that over sanitation can actually lead to allot of health problems which why I think getting out in the garden and getting your hands dirty is more important then ever!
Yes Michael, these are great comparisons and for myself, I always look to have my hands not too clean! As you say, the microbes from the soil and compost are vital for our own ecosystem and are similar to the microbes in a healthy human gut. We need gut feelings!
My last potatoes I tried to grow did NOT do well at ALL, I got like 2 marble size potatoes from like 21 potatoe chunks. Kinda sucked. Hoping the potatoes this spring do fabulous. I been trying to prepare the beds with leaves, wood chips, pine needles, manure rabbit and chicken for the most part
Oh dear. Pine needles and woodchips, unless well decomposed will be sucking nutrients out of your growing medium when in the rooting zone. You can apply them in a surface mulch 2 inch/5 cm maximum on the surface only, never in the rooting zone where you want decomposed materials like compost!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig I do not have soil, I have clay dirt, and it is hard packed, and almost impossible to grow in, the carbon products I am trying to use to lighten up this clay dirt. Wood chips are from this past spring & have broken down nice, mostly looking like decomposing old tree dirt, pine needles are not composted very well, some are very old, but none of them are green. I am trying to use what I have here, & that I can get for FREE. 😃. Tips, are welcome. Thank you... I am a VERY nee gardener.
If you put in a second or third crop after harvesting the first one or two, where do you get the potatoes to plant later? Just replant some you just harvested? Thanks great interesting video as always!
Hi Denise, that's interesting and I suspect you are right, so you need to choose the coolest part of the year.I think they need increasing daylight to trigger tuber formation so I would plant them in May or June, for harvesting about three months after that. Maybe you are better with sweet potatoes!
The green potatoes can be used as seeds next year ! I use them all of the and have great outcomes notusing them !!! A cut tater over the size of a large sure is a waste of good seed
Do you plant the potato whole because of having plenty or less chance of rot? You have grown potatoes in the past in the same spot for several years; there isn't a problem with the nematodes? Do you do this because of the constant mounding of compost yearly? My reason for asking; I created a no dig area for my night shades. Does this mean I'll be able to grow in this area without the soil born nematodes as long as I add compost religiously? Thank you in advance.
There are no guarantees in gardening and nematodes of the bad sort (most are good), may appear. All I can say is that there are few bad ones yet in my area. The amount of compost I apply plus it's not huge, just one inch each year, and that is a normal amount for good gardening. More important than the compost is minimal soil disturbance, although of course with potatoes there is some disturbance of the top 3 to 4 inches. And yet we had a 7th year harvest in 2021 which was excellent. It may well work for you!
I always feel people have a wrong understanding of 'earthing up'. The reason it's done, is because indeterminate potato varieties will continue to grow tubers from the stem as they grow tall, the same way indeterminate Tomatoes will continue to make roots from the stem. It's determinate potatoes that only grow in one layer at the depth you plant them, and those you only earth up to stop them going green. Unfortunately it's very difficult, sometimes impossible, to find out if a certain variety is determinate or indeterminate. More often than not the earlies are determinate, but not always, and same with maincrops being indeterminate, is not always the case.
I'm in Canada zone 9a/8b which would be great except I have no access to manure, coffee grounds etc....just basically plant material so my soil is poor....what are your thoughts re green manures/cover crops in this case? I missed sowing green manure 2021 (personal situation came up) and with an extremely hot dry summer the yields of all plants were poor (and soil quality is likely part of it). Could you do a talk on green manures for those of us without access to much of what you use in your compost bin? I of course use plant material but am only able to make maybe 2 large garbage cans for a 1500 sq ft garden. I love the no dig method of course but how can I do no dig with minimal rich compost? I'm sure there must be others in the same situation....though maybe not on a small island :). Thanks so much for all your help over this past year! BTW the island I am on has poor soil on most of the island- lots are resting on sandstone so many truck in yards of soil each year to have beautiful West Coast gardens. all the best
Yes your situation is not easy! Even what you call green manures are a bit of a fallacy because if your soil is really poor, absent even, then you cannot by definition grow a fantastic green manure, which cannot then magically bring in lots of fertility! Sandstone is also quite a poor rock in terms of making soil. Those people who bring in truckloads of soil have a point and unless you can find somewhere on your island which grows a lot of spare vegetation which you can use to make compost, I am unsure how you proceed. If there are trees and you can get woodchip, that may be a solution.
I have just spent four long days digging and sifting bindweed roots out of the raised beds in which the blight strangled all my peas in the cold, wet, wretched summer of 2021. It is really hard to deal with this botanical evil. Any ideas?
The playlist of new area videos takes you through a season of dealing with bindweed, we are winning without digging but we remove new shoots and it weakens
One potato has a 1000% return in a few months. What investment can do that other then gardening? And has many other benefits as well. Blessed days everybody.
I cultivate and turn my soil(tho I till less now, for other reasons) and my garden is still full of toads. I'm not sure how you figure turning the soil deters toads?
Hi Charles, love following your channel, but could I make a request.....is there anyway you could DATE on screen when you're actually doing the thing? EG this video was uploaded 26th Dec 21...but it that the date you harvested? Thanks in advance :)
Im really interested to hear how your trial with the sheeps wool mulch pans out. Farmers are really struggling to find a viable outlet for their wool, and if it turns out to be good growing/mulching medium, Id be happy to support that.
It's too early to conclude. Definitely it adds nutrients, but is suited mostly to wide-spaced plants because for example it's harder to transplant through the fibres, and they would get in salad leaves! The brassicas grew very well.
tengo en casa macetas ecologicas para las patatas.. solo abro la compueta y listo...como los camotes!..como puedo hacer huertos elevados para ahorrar espacios? .me podria dar una idea el senor charly..preguntele por favor... ! quien quiera quien este del otro lado del chat...
Soy yo Ruby. Puedes cultivar papas en contenedores, pero no estoy convencido de que ahorre mucho espacio porque tienen tallos largos y las hojas, también son grandes y se extienden por todas partes. Así que puede tener una maceta de tamaño mediano, pero tiene una planta muy grande.
This is a great video with lots of useful information. The solanine in potatoes IS mild but gets stronger as they become greener and for some people who may be allergic, they can become ill. You should never eat the the rest of the plant because it will poison you. Potatoes are related to deadly nightshade. Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, are not a potato and all of the plant can be eaten, as well you can eat the tuber raw. Thanks Charles.
I just harvested my first for this year grown in 30L pots in our wee garden the best Dutch Cream potatoes to date and 4.3kg from 2 pots, good size ones and so tasty, making Christmas dinner special this year. More to harvest in the coming weeks after a horrid spring early summer growing weather mist plants not doing well so cheered me up no end.
Can I recommend a video on container potatoes using just compost/compost + soil vs no dig in the ground? Seen a lot of videos showing them to be far more effective and theyre much easier to harvest.
I did no dig potatoes for the first time last year.......fantastic!!! Will be doing the same again this year, but will try the black polythene too......thanks Charles 🙏😁🥔🥔🥔🥔
Thank you..I forgot to mention apples, but your video included apples. I was storing potatoes, squashes, apples and onions the same; not keeping the potatoes and apples cool enough nor the onions and squashes dry enough. Also, the peppers needed to be hung high above the floor where the air is dryer.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig thats first video where you have potatoes under black folie i didnt see any other videos but looks that works perfect with potatoes same like strawberry
Lovely, Charles! We've here in the NW Arizona desert have mild rains this time of year, sparse, but good for the water acquifer in this valley; and we just harvested our potatoes and the first frost occurred about a week ago. I have a supply of good manure from our goat pen, always oncoming, so that goes IN the soil this time of year, plus when we prune the orchard we run the uneaten branches the goat has finished with, through the mulcher, and put it right back where it came from, the soil. And yes, plastic is a huge HELP...thanks for your timely info on potatoes.🌵
Hi Charles! Just incredible that the crop of potatoes you pulled wasn't watered at all!! That is BRILLIANT in an era when we need to conserve water as much as possible. I was just wondering if from your experience, that practice of growing vegetables (i.e. with ground covered with plastic) could be extended to other crops (if not all crops!)?? Happy 2022 to you!!
Thanks Susan and in principle yes, but many vegetables go at closer spacing which would make it not practical with plastic. It's more about choosing your moment and your harvest, and the weed pressure which was the main factor for me here
As some of my saved potatoes have started sprouting all ready yesterday I set up 4 old compost bags turned inside out as the black side is probably more UV resistant and 1/3 filled with verve potting compost I got cheap at £2.50 a bag a few months back. placed 1 potato in each and left in my greenhouse. Not growing any in the ground next year as something in the ground likes to riddle 80% with little holes.
i would to thank you charles. this year i have grown potatoes using your method, and the crop was amazing. in the years of growing them, the tradional way, i had struggled to get a decent amount per plant, despite my efforts. this year with a little effort, they have been amazing and the replanting into another crop is so much faster than before. thank you
Fantastic! I love to make differences like this and congrats to you Lindor
There's something about growing potatoes. I don't know what it is. They're not the money makers, they're not a high value crop, but somehow I don't feel I'm a gardener if I'm not growing them. They're perhaps my favourite crop to grow. They are beautiful plants, and it feels really good to do some potato harvesting - or watch some as well.
Agreed. I maybe only grew a total of $20 worth of potatoes this year and each and every one l consider worth all the effort!
Yeah they’re my favourite too, along with onions and tomatoes…. For us in the North (Canada) they are also the main sustenance calorie crop available, for homesteaders. We can also grow sweet potatoes in our season too, barely.
I think the big difference for me is just how much better home-grown potatoes taste - I went my whole life thinking potatoes were much of a muchness because I'd only had supermarket ones, trying my own was a real eye-opener!
I would say they're pretty high value (for my family at least) because they're so versatile!
We eat a lot of potatoes in our house so they always get used 👍
Couldn’t agree more!
You're the man Charles!
I've dabbled with your no dig method in the past, but this is the first growing season I've gone all out ( Australia )
It was a bit of work in the beginning... I grow on sloping land, so there was a lot of labour getting all the compost down to my beds, also a bit of cost to buy the compost... but the benefits far out way the initial cost/labour.
I've hardly had to do any weeding, and that was always a constant battle for me in the past, taking up so much time, and I still could never really keep on top of it.
I also notice that the drainage has been so much better, despite having a really wet season here.
On top of that, I've had minimal pest damage, compared to an old garden a few meters away that is getting smashed by slugs.
And yeah, all my veg are growing like crazy, best results I've ever had.
So yeah, I'm fully converted now, mate!
I'm working on setting up some compost bays close to the beds to cut down further on cost/labour in the future.
Thanks for all the knowledge you've shared.
Wonderful Paul and thanks for sharing, enjoy making compost 😀
did I really write " out way " ?! lol
What i loved about this particular video(besides Charles) is the bugs. When the plastic was removed, i enjoyed seeing the bugs scurry. And watching a bug climb up Charles hand was awesome. Thank you
Cool, thanks 🐞!
I recently bought a pocket knife as a Christmas gift for a young man. I just noticed that you use the same knife, and I’m so pleased to know that my gift will be as useful and hardworking as yours is. And as always, beautiful potatoes.
Nice present! Thanks Leslie
Here in Belgium we wait till the plant is fully dried before harvesting the potatoe. You got me thinking. That's probably cause the farmers are doing it like that, we just copy. I'll follow your advice this year to harvest when the leaves turn yellow. I'm planting Obama potatoes since a few years keeping the small ones from last year's harvest. Works well.
Great to hear.
For lunch today we had roast potatoes from these ones, harvested 10 months ago! My son commented how tasty they are, and a lovely texture, stored in paper sacks in a building near the house
Thanks for the video, this is my first season growing no dig in South Africa so learning tonnes and continuously inspired by Charles' videos. I was just wondering when to harvest my potatoes, well now I know! Thanks 👌
Nice to hear Marc!
They say that the smallest potatoes are ready when the plant first blooms, but...it can disturb the soil for future larger potatoes if you dig them up...
I love learning what plants will grow with little or no help lol. My okra plants and sweet potatoes pretty much took care of themselves. I will give potatoes a go this spring!
Honestly, I've always been watching all your videos and whenever I watch, it's giving me a calm and relaxing vibes and a positive energy. Also, your videos help me relieve my stress. Always take care and so is your family. Thank you for always giving us these wonderful videos ❤
Wow, thank you, happy to help you Sarah 😎
Watching from South Africa. Thank you for another wonderful informative video. Your gardening knowledge is so sensible and wise from a long and successful gardening career. God bless!
Many thanks Daniel, and that is nice for you because the video is right in your summer season!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig wonderful 😁😁😁
Fantastic harvest!! We were able to harvest (in the snow) and have for Christmas dinner last night;)
Thanks for everything, looking forward to putting you're calendar to good use !!
Cheers
Wonderful Clive, how amazing
Thank you, merry Christmas from Spain🇪🇸🇪🇸
Lovely harvest, looking forward to the new year 😁
Lovely harvest and great timing information. We had such a disappointing potato harvest this past summer. Come to find out that was pretty much the case in much of the country. I’ve been sitting for several months trying to decide where to put the potatoes this coming spring. They are fantastic for erasing lawn.
Fingers crossed for you next year, yes excellent for starting on new and weedy ground
I was the same this year, I got a minimal return for what I planted and was quite disappointed. But I'm hopeful for next year!
I'm a big fan of erasing grass. My garden doesn't have any now. Growing lawns in Central Texas is environmentally unsound, as well as frustrating.
Charles many times in your videos I have to pause to admire the beautiful garden and/or scenery ... If I commented each time I'm afraid I'd spam up your comment section.
Cheers Ted!
This is so timely, thank you. I've grown my little garden for years now but I've never planted potatoes. They are cheap and abundant in Atlantic Canada 🇨🇦 but the province of Prince Edward Island is having troubles with their potatoes. I decided to grow potatoes in one of my large raised beds this year. I ordered seed potatoes on December 5th! I'm a potato noob! I ordered 4 each of: Alta Blush, Bintje, Bridget, Chieftain and All Blue. Coming from Alberta and arriving in April. Time to binge all things potato 🥔 🥔🥔🥔🥔!
How lovely, happy planting in April
Morning Charles, boy it’s cold and rainy here in Arkansas today. Won’t be going out in the garden today. Got a bunch stuff out there growing though for the winter. I hope you don’t mind but I’m going to start a gardening class for my church in March and I’d like to mention you and your channel a lot. I have some of your books as reference guides for them. Thanks for your time and sharing. Love watching your harvest. (Old guy from Arkansas)🇺🇸
Hello Steven, and Happy New Year.
I am delighted to hear that and appreciate you asking. I'm really keen to get this wonderful information out there and I'm sure that your church members will be delighted to know that there are ways of looking after Creation that are kind to soil organisms.
Happy and prosperous new year to you and yours
💚
High 60's here in Kentucky for Christmas ! Crazy weather. It will be interested to see what spring brings.
You're not wrong. We've had crazy weather in the UK too. This week for instance, the temp has been around 4°C today, and we're forecast a whopping 14°C on Thursday! Then it'll drop right back down again on New Year's Day! Really strange weather all year this year!
Hello. My name is Anastasia. I am from Russia. I also work in the garden. I love to grow everything without chemicals. I am glad that I found you that you love all ecological vegetables and fruits. The same person as I want to apply your method on my site and in our climate I have been making an experiment for a long time. I make compost but I haven’t used it yet using compost and animal fertilizers for digging I will try to make a video about the experiment and show my site Please write the address where to send the video Thank you for your experience advice patience This is a great work of health for you and your loved ones I don’t know if your method will suit me without digging, our groundwater is very close to the surface and after precipitation or after winter, we have water on the surface in the middle of the garden.
Hi Anastasia
Thanks for writing and I look forward to seeing more.
Water near the surface is a question of site or land drainage, as opposed to soil aeration. No dig should help is all I can say, because it maintains a better vertical structure of air passages, without the breakages from digging.
Perhaps when you have a video, send us an email to admin@charlesdowding.co.uk and we shall see how to proceed.
Great video! That makes sense. a little mounding to prevent greening. Cool to see the transformation of your pastures; killing off weeds while providing food!
Thanks Ken
Nice harvest 🥔🥔🥔👍
Yey Charles gives us a masterclass on growing the good old Spud = Potato. Charles they look great. A neighbour use to grow them in Plastic fertiliser bags he use to get a good crop out of them might try that next year. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and i wish you a Happy Healthy and Prosperous New Year
Thanks that is nice of you and that is worth a try, just be sure there are good drainage holes at the bottom of each sack, fill with compost not soil
Be careful you don't fall foul of the toxic plastic police.
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Wasn't their a problem with a new dangerous fungicide in a lot of compost, straw, hay etc recently that kills home gardens?
I noticed you used some store bought in one of your earlier videos. I can't have a compost pile here. How do I know which one to buy?
thích khu vườn của ông quá
🌱 Bạn là một người làm vườn tốt!
Charlotte is my favourite to grow too, but I keep mine in buckets. The smallest amount left behind can take two years to grow back too. Fascinating how tenacious these plants are, but also shows how great as a repetitively free food supply they are!
Sounds great Suzanne
You're my mentor. Wishing you and the world Happy Holidays 2021. Cheers.
Same to you!
This past year our potatoes were just ready to harvest...and then it rained for two weeks. I should have gone out in the rain to harvest, but didn't. Voles and deer enjoyed some, though. We still got a good harvest in, but not what it could have been.
Next year!!
Awesome video like 😊😘💖💖💖👋
the toad is so cute :3
Thank you for this video. Will be growing charlotte 2nd earlys and mccain royals as maincrop next year
Good luck!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig thank you. Would love to visit homeacres to get some expert advice and ideas 💡
Hey Charles.
Trust your boxing day was laid back. Respect from Africa 🇿🇦
Yes it was thanks Justus!
And 11C, sun, no wind, lunch in the garden, amazing
@@CharlesDowding1nodig wow! It was 4 degrees here on the East coast of Lincolnshire! And, windy, wet and altogether horrible! Not gardening weather, let alone having lunch in the garden!
@@gypsygem9395 ooo... that sounds unpleasant. You should try a summer Christmas, we had a cool 23c and a light breeze, had the leftovers from the 25 and fruits and ice-cream for dinner.
Respect from Africa 🇿🇦
@@jeshurunfarm sounds so good!
I'm trying an experiment. I've already planted some Casablanca using tubers from some of this years harvest. I had some woodchip available for free and decided to just dump it on the ground to kill the weeds. It is a thick layer. I had to grab it while I could, as it was dumped in the allotment area by someone, for anyone to get, and it's first in first serve, and I'm not passing up that opportunity. I buried the tubers in the woodchip right at the soil level, which is quiet deep. I'm going to see how that goes next year. I'm a bit concerned the tubers might rrot, or that the woodchip will stop the potato shoots from getting through. As I said before, it's quiet deep which is to protect from the cold. We'll see, as not much to lose from this after all and a lot to gain. I mean I've had volunteers from previous years grow successfully, so there's no reason I can't get away with this, maybe.
Thanks for the tips by the way. It's always a pleasure to watch your videos. Very informative.
Nice to try that. If the shoots make it though, you may be surprised!
Beautiful
Thank you! I thought you only grew Charlotte, but it’s very interesting to hear there are early and late varieties too.
Those r beautiful
Grata pela legenda 🇧🇷
Excelente! Diga aos seus amigos que nós fornecemos legendas em português
I was thinking last night how without bacteria and fungi life as we know it probably wouldn't be possible because our digestive system wouldn't work without them, the decay of dead organic matter would cease and nutrients in the soil would plummet and/or become inaccessible and eventually plants would struggle to grow at all. If you think about it a compost heap is probably a very similar biological process to our own digestion, nothing would decay without the bacteria and fungi present all around us (it would just dry out, crumble and turn into dust). Since the start of covid I have been careful keeping my hands, clothes and body clean but I think people need to remember that over sanitation can actually lead to allot of health problems which why I think getting out in the garden and getting your hands dirty is more important then ever!
Yes Michael, these are great comparisons and for myself, I always look to have my hands not too clean! As you say, the microbes from the soil and compost are vital for our own ecosystem and are similar to the microbes in a healthy human gut. We need gut feelings!
Gracias por compartir tus conocimientos. Recibe saludos desea México
💚
Супер! Обязательно попробую в этом году! Спасибо
💚 Удачи!
Земля под картошкой хорошая!
Да ты прав 🥕!
Great idea to re-use silage as the farmers can’t use it as soon as holes appear.
Спасибо за русские субтитры🙏🙏🙏
💚
My last potatoes I tried to grow did NOT do well at ALL, I got like 2 marble size potatoes from like 21 potatoe chunks. Kinda sucked. Hoping the potatoes this spring do fabulous. I been trying to prepare the beds with leaves, wood chips, pine needles, manure rabbit and chicken for the most part
Oh dear.
Pine needles and woodchips, unless well decomposed will be sucking nutrients out of your growing medium when in the rooting zone. You can apply them in a surface mulch 2 inch/5 cm maximum on the surface only, never in the rooting zone where you want decomposed materials like compost!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig
I do not have soil, I have clay dirt, and it is hard packed, and almost impossible to grow in, the carbon products I am trying to use to lighten up this clay dirt. Wood chips are from this past spring & have broken down nice, mostly looking like decomposing old tree dirt, pine needles are not composted very well, some are very old, but none of them are green. I am trying to use what I have here, & that I can get for FREE. 😃. Tips, are welcome. Thank you... I am a VERY nee gardener.
Brilliant. Thank you. By the way, we’re you harvesting during this last week?
Haha no, 5 months ago!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig hahaha! I was about to move to Somerset after that video. Weather looks like the tropics compared to the rest of the country.
If you put in a second or third crop after harvesting the first one or two, where do you get the potatoes to plant later? Just replant some you just harvested? Thanks great interesting video as always!
Yes exactly, I keep back a few medium sized ones to replant the following spring
Charles I struggle with potatoes over here & I think it is the sub-tropical climate ??? Can you advise please. Cheers Denise- Australia
Hi Denise, that's interesting and I suspect you are right, so you need to choose the coolest part of the year.I think they need increasing daylight to trigger tuber formation so I would plant them in May or June, for harvesting about three months after that. Maybe you are better with sweet potatoes!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thank you very much Charles- yes my sweet potatoes do extremely well. Have a wonderful Day. Cheers Denise
The green potatoes can be used as seeds next year ! I use them all of the and have great outcomes notusing them !!! A cut tater over the size of a large sure is a waste of good seed
Can't argue with your methods from a production stand point. But not how we do it in the Mid-Atlantic states
Thanks, and I would try a few plants like this!
Do you plant the potato whole because of having plenty or less chance of rot? You have grown potatoes in the past in the same spot for several years; there isn't a problem with the nematodes? Do you do this because of the constant mounding of compost yearly? My reason for asking; I created a no dig area for my night shades. Does this mean I'll be able to grow in this area without the soil born nematodes as long as I add compost religiously? Thank you in advance.
There are no guarantees in gardening and nematodes of the bad sort (most are good), may appear. All I can say is that there are few bad ones yet in my area.
The amount of compost I apply plus it's not huge, just one inch each year, and that is a normal amount for good gardening.
More important than the compost is minimal soil disturbance, although of course with potatoes there is some disturbance of the top 3 to 4 inches. And yet we had a 7th year harvest in 2021 which was excellent.
It may well work for you!
I always feel people have a wrong understanding of 'earthing up'. The reason it's done, is because indeterminate potato varieties will continue to grow tubers from the stem as they grow tall, the same way indeterminate Tomatoes will continue to make roots from the stem. It's determinate potatoes that only grow in one layer at the depth you plant them, and those you only earth up to stop them going green. Unfortunately it's very difficult, sometimes impossible, to find out if a certain variety is determinate or indeterminate. More often than not the earlies are determinate, but not always, and same with maincrops being indeterminate, is not always the case.
Kind of you to clarify 😀
Do you put bindweed on the compost if it is green and growing? Thank you.
Yes we do always, green and fresh, decomposes always provided you keep adding on top
@@CharlesDowding1nodig Thank you for taking the time to reply with your expert advice, hopefully l won’t encourage even more bind weed then!
I'm in Canada zone 9a/8b which would be great except I have no access to manure, coffee grounds etc....just basically plant material so my soil is poor....what are your thoughts re green manures/cover crops in this case? I missed sowing green manure 2021 (personal situation came up) and with an extremely hot dry summer the yields of all plants were poor (and soil quality is likely part of it). Could you do a talk on green manures for those of us without access to much of what you use in your compost bin? I of course use plant material but am only able to make maybe 2 large garbage cans for a 1500 sq ft garden. I love the no dig method of course but how can I do no dig with minimal rich compost? I'm sure there must be others in the same situation....though maybe not on a small island :). Thanks so much for all your help over this past year! BTW the island I am on has poor soil on most of the island- lots are resting on sandstone so many truck in yards of soil each year to have beautiful West Coast gardens. all the best
Yes your situation is not easy! Even what you call green manures are a bit of a fallacy because if your soil is really poor, absent even, then you cannot by definition grow a fantastic green manure, which cannot then magically bring in lots of fertility!
Sandstone is also quite a poor rock in terms of making soil. Those people who bring in truckloads of soil have a point and unless you can find somewhere on your island which grows a lot of spare vegetation which you can use to make compost, I am unsure how you proceed. If there are trees and you can get woodchip, that may be a solution.
In italianoooo. GRANDEEEEE 🤣🤣🤣
WE HAVE AN AUNT CHAROLETTE !!!!!!!!!!! SHE'S OF THE "COUCH" VARIETY !!!!!!!!!!!!
Great info but was there any mention of planting distances between plants?
For first earlies 35cm, seconds 45, main crops 55cm
@@CharlesDowding1nodig easy to remember (hopefully!), thank you Charles
I have just spent four long days digging and sifting bindweed roots out of the raised beds in which the blight strangled all my peas in the cold, wet, wretched summer of 2021. It is really hard to deal with this botanical evil. Any ideas?
The playlist of new area videos takes you through a season of dealing with bindweed, we are winning without digging but we remove new shoots and it weakens
5 ..
I noticed u always wear sandals?
In summer yes! My feet can breathe.
Hello sir... My name is Herman. Would you like to sell some of melon seed to me,such as tiger melon and others?
Sorry I did not keep those because they will have cross pollinated, plus I do not sell seeds, hope you find some
One potato has a 1000% return in a few months. What investment can do that other then gardening? And has many other benefits as well. Blessed days everybody.
Goodness Charles! I don't think there's anything you can't grow.🙂 Beautiful potatoes!
Happy New Year to you and yours!🙂
Same to you Valorie and thanks 🌺
IT'S LIKE PULLING PURE GOLD STRAIGHT OUT OF DIRT HEAVEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just noticed that you have crossed the half million subscribers mark! Congratulations Charles! And a blessed New Year to you!
Thank you Jules. I did not expect it :)
You too!
GUESS WHO''S SURVIVING THE NEXT POTATO FAMINE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A new CD video? Merry Christmas to me!
WE HAVEN'T SEEN THAT MANY POTATOES SINCE THE MOSCOW WORLD'S FAIR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lovely video potatoes a must for me
I cultivate and turn my soil(tho I till less now, for other reasons) and my garden is still full of toads.
I'm not sure how you figure turning the soil deters toads?
Good to hear
I grew Lily Rose on my allotment in the Thames Valley this year. I had an excellent crop
Hi Charles, love following your channel, but could I make a request.....is there anyway you could DATE on screen when you're actually doing the thing? EG this video was uploaded 26th Dec 21...but it that the date you harvested? Thanks in advance :)
Great suggestion thanks
Im really interested to hear how your trial with the sheeps wool mulch pans out. Farmers are really struggling to find a viable outlet for their wool, and if it turns out to be good growing/mulching medium, Id be happy to support that.
It's too early to conclude.
Definitely it adds nutrients, but is suited mostly to wide-spaced plants because for example it's harder to transplant through the fibres, and they would get in salad leaves!
The brassicas grew very well.
That's one heck of a crop off that first charlotte plant!
tengo en casa macetas ecologicas para las patatas.. solo abro la compueta y listo...como los camotes!..como puedo hacer huertos elevados para ahorrar espacios?
.me podria dar una idea el senor charly..preguntele por favor... ! quien quiera quien este del otro lado del chat...
Soy yo Ruby.
Puedes cultivar papas en contenedores, pero no estoy convencido de que ahorre mucho espacio porque tienen tallos largos y las hojas, también son grandes y se extienden por todas partes. Así que puede tener una maceta de tamaño mediano, pero tiene una planta muy grande.
Hi charles stopped to say hi and see how you doing i hope everything is ok with you and doing well,cheers Robert:)
All good thanks Robert!
This is a great video with lots of useful information.
The solanine in potatoes IS mild but gets stronger as they become greener and for some people who may be allergic, they can become ill. You should never eat the the rest of the plant because it will poison you. Potatoes are related to deadly nightshade.
Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, are not a potato and all of the plant can be eaten, as well you can eat the tuber raw.
Thanks Charles.
Cheers Ken, and thanks for the helpful information
From the look of that frog's belly Charles, I'd say it's got a gutful of slugs! :)
😀!
I just harvested my first for this year grown in 30L pots in our wee garden the best Dutch Cream potatoes to date and 4.3kg from 2 pots, good size ones and so tasty, making Christmas dinner special this year. More to harvest in the coming weeks after a horrid spring early summer growing weather mist plants not doing well so cheered me up no end.
Very nice! Thanks for sharing
Can I recommend a video on container potatoes using just compost/compost + soil vs no dig in the ground? Seen a lot of videos showing them to be far more effective and theyre much easier to harvest.
Also more time, cost and effort to fill and water - yes an interesting comparison 😀
I just noticed your half million subscribers. Way to go Charles!
Thanks Frank
I did no dig potatoes for the first time last year.......fantastic!!! Will be doing the same again this year, but will try the black polythene too......thanks Charles 🙏😁🥔🥔🥔🥔
This is my first year growing potatoes so this is very helpfull!!
Merhaba çok şanslısınız orda olmak isterdim iyi akşamlar. .
I find that absolutely amazing, with the black plastic. Loved seeing toady!
👍👌👏😊
I tried growing potatoes in a bucket this year, but had a very hard time judging when they were harvestable because deer kept eating the foliage.
We are still harvesting our potatoes! [South of England] They taste great too.
Question: how and where to store potatoes, squash and onions. Thank you, Tamra
See my video about this ruclips.net/video/7d2GUHB2ggc/видео.html
Thank you..I forgot to mention apples, but your video included apples. I was storing potatoes, squashes, apples and onions the same; not keeping the potatoes and apples cool enough nor the onions and squashes dry enough. Also, the peppers needed to be hung high above the floor where the air is dryer.
Do you prefer more potatoes under foliage or normal ????
Not sure what you mean!
@@CharlesDowding1nodig thats first video where you have potatoes under black folie i didnt see any other videos but looks that works perfect with potatoes same like strawberry
I planted Maris peer on 17 July. S/w Wales. They are the best potatoes I've grown to date.
Cant beat home grown spuds
Worth the elbow grease for sure. Love growing my own.
Good harvesting
Those Charlottes had me salivating .
Lovely, Charles! We've here in the NW Arizona desert have mild rains this time of year, sparse, but good for the water acquifer in this valley; and we just harvested our potatoes and the first frost occurred about a week ago. I have a supply of good manure from our goat pen, always oncoming, so that goes IN the soil this time of year, plus when we prune the orchard we run the uneaten branches the goat has finished with, through the mulcher, and put it right back where it came from, the soil. And yes, plastic is a huge HELP...thanks for your timely info on potatoes.🌵
Nice to read this Margaret and you are gardening as productively as ever, working with nature 💚
Very nice. Have a good new year
Hi Charles! Just incredible that the crop of potatoes you pulled wasn't watered at all!! That is BRILLIANT in an era when we need to conserve water as much as possible. I was just wondering if from your experience, that practice of growing vegetables (i.e. with ground covered with plastic) could be extended to other crops (if not all crops!)?? Happy 2022 to you!!
Thanks Susan and in principle yes, but many vegetables go at closer spacing which would make it not practical with plastic. It's more about choosing your moment and your harvest, and the weed pressure which was the main factor for me here
As some of my saved potatoes have started sprouting all ready yesterday I set up 4 old compost bags turned inside out as the black side is probably more UV resistant and 1/3 filled with verve potting compost I got cheap at £2.50 a bag a few months back. placed 1 potato in each and left in my greenhouse. Not growing any in the ground next year as something in the ground likes to riddle 80% with little holes.
That sounds a great move and good luck! It's some kind of eelworm probably and they are difficult to deal with.
Buenísimo gracias
What an awesome harvest.
I grow Charlotte regularly and have managed to store them for the whole year.
Perfect!
Merry Christmas and have a wonderful holidays Charles, thanks for spread your experience,you are a great great person!!!!!
Thanks Julian 🥤