This Sustainable House

One of my favourite plants to grow is the good ‘ol humble spud. I think it is because the potato is such a staple of our western culture, much like bread or wheat. I often feel a similar ‘satisfaction’ when baking bread or making yoghurt.

So today I planted my potatoes, utilising Peter Cundall’s ‘Potatoes under Straw” method.

The basis of the method is to lay some newspaper/cardboard down over the ground, place the seed potatoes on the newspaper, and then cover with a thick layer of straw. As the potatoes grow through the straw, you keep applying more staw leaving approx 30cm, or 12 inches, of the plant exposed. The potatoes grow in the straw producing a terrific crop. The key to this method is keeping the light off the potatoes so that they don’t go green. NEVER eat green potatoes.

You can see the method on YouTube here.

Into the beds today went approximately 70 tubers, which should produce 5-600 tubers at the end of the season, more than enough for a good part of the year to come. Varieties planted included Desiree, King Edward, Pink-eye, Dutch Cream and Cranberry Red.

I’ll post some updates as they grow and, of course, when I harvest!

Potatoes Under Straw (~9m2)