Most of my vegetables are grown in raised beds but this year I dug a new area for potatoes. Unfortunately this is the only place on our property that I can have an in-ground bed. I have read that potatoes should not be grown in the same ground in successive years. Given that we only have one place to grow them, is there some way of treating the soil so that we won't have problems with next seasons crop grown in the same place ?
you can grow potatoes in raised beds or boxes so they don't necesarilly have to be in the regular ground. i would grow them in ground this year than next year grow some in the raised beds or you could split the plants in half grow half potatoes in ground and half in the raised bed it would give you a good idea which works better. than you could take half of the veggie plant that you where going to be using for the rasied bed grow half in the raised bed and the other half in ground. than next year rotate the potatoes switch sides in each bed. there is always solarizing the soil i know it can kill weed seeds but not sure about critters that would bother the taters they might be able to burrow further in the ground and not get hurt by the heated soil. and if you are not sure what solorizing means thats basically just spreading clear plastic or depending on the size of the bed i have heard of people using several pieces of glass table tops or even a glass sliding door put directly on the soil begining of spring and let the sun bake the soil i am not sure how long you leave the material you use on the ground probably several months
Thanks for the info. If I can't find another solution I may try growing in only half he potato bed next year to see what happens. Then the other half the following year. My raised beds are only about 8 inches deep which is fine for most vegetables but I don't think they are deep enough for spuds.
This might correct some long standing dogmas about potatoes. 21 August 2009 How a Potato Plant Grows. 21 August 2009 How a Potato Plant Grows Potato growing test box was opened today. The pictures literally speak for themselves. Clearly there is no advantage in carrying out excessive hilling when growing potatoes. The purpose of hilling is to insure the tubers are covered. For comparison one Pontiac Red was dug in the same row, which was almost identical to the test box potato in appearance. http://www.durgan.org/URL/?PotatoS Summary: Potato Test Box
