How To Hill The Potatoes: The Question of the Day for Me
YAY the sun it out! I’m all caught up on lawn work so it’s time to get back into the garden. On the agenda for today is hilling the potatoes, but what’s the best way? I was going to hill potatoes with straw, but then I read this forum, and now I’m thinking I’ll have to go get some dirt from somewhere. My other choice is compost, but it’s not completely composted yet and I’m worried that making potato hills out of it will attract rodents to the plants.
So I guess I’ll need to shovel the rest of the gravel out of the bed of my truck and go find me some more dirt. Our neighbors dumped a load off last week but I hate to bug them again so soon. It sure would be nice to have a tractor with a front-end loader and a big mountain of fill dirt. I can think of so many ways to use dirt on this property right now that I’d get a dump truck load of it if I wouldn’t have to move it all with a shovel and a wheelbarrow.
Eventually the goal is to keep the soil on the property and use compost, manure and cover crops instead of bringing in soil from outside. But sometimes “eventually” doesn’t happen in the first year. And I need to hill my potatoes right now, not “eventually”.
OK It’s settled then. I’m going to go get some dirt. Thanks for talking me through the decision process.
E.
Category: Gardening, The Transplants
Everett writes about voluntary simplicity. This blog catalogs his search for "the good life" as he tries to strike a balance between work and play, freedom and responsibility, simplicity and comfort.
I live in the city and living off grid, while a desire, is not really an option for me. But I did want to tell you that my mother was able to grow potatoes in her garden one year. I wasn’t around to enjoy them but she had them in her front garden. She also grew corn in her back garden, and our property isn’t big by means. I love fresh from the ground potatoes. I get them every year at a pick-your-own farm.
No need to get extra soil…just shovel the soil from you walkway to hill it up. Go down one side of the walk and up the other to hill it up. By the time you start to have too deep of ditch from your walkway, your compost should be ready.
Ed, Thanks! That’s a great tip. I went ahead and ordered some dirt anyway (it was before I read your message) but we can use it for some other things around here so it’s no loss. I’ll go out in a few and take the dirt from the path on either side of the plants.
Cheers,
Everett
Ed’s method is the traditional way, just in case you want another opinion. Of course, it’s not the one I use.
Sometimes I’m lazy and don’t hill my potatoes at all and it doesn’t seem to cause much of a diminished yield. The only problem is that if you don’t mulch them, rain will wash dirt off the top potatoes and they’ll turn green.
This year I’m hilling a few beds with rotting lawn clippings as a random experiment (mostly because I planted potatoes this year in the area with very little soil above the groundwater, so planted the potatoes basically on the soil surface, covered with mulch and underlain with compost.) I was interested to read all of those negative straw experiments on that forum… Hope my experiment doesn’t turn out the same.
I’ve used a mix of straw and dirt for a couple years now. I usually trench out for the seed potatoes and cover with straw to keep weeds down. Once the shoots get a couple inches I add a hill of dirt or garden soil from the bed and put a bit more straw down, again for weed stopping and water conservation. I keep this up until the plant is about a foot tall and then let it go. I would imagine in wetter climates the straw might give you problems, as might more organic soils or compost: you can develop spot and rot if your soil is too wet or too nitrogen rich. A little sulphur will help here as well. I’m not a garden expert by any means, but I’ve been using this method for a couple years with a good amount of success. Good luck.
Thanks Jason. I take it you live in an area where the soil isn’t as acidic as it is around here. Sulfur in the soil around here is unheard of. Lime is more like it. But I like the mixture of straw and dirt, which is what I ended up doing after all. I’ll let everyone knows how it turns out. We have a LOT of potato plants this year (more than any other type of plant) but, as with most root crops, you never know if that will equate to a lot of potatoes until it’s time to dig some up.
Our friends mentioned getting fingerling / new potatoes from their garden already, but I think we’re running a little behind them. I still have some tomato plants I haven’t even transplanted yet!
Cheers,
E.