Agree with @BobTheGardener re potatoes to break up new ground. The potatoes themselves are rather lazy little beggars - it's all the work you do on their behalf which counts
Same old cr*p this person keeps banging on about @philippasmith2. Needs a new hobby
I do keep falling for these oddballs ...........Dove explained Apparently they grow Powdered eggs and Spam in the US but that may just have been in 1940. Wonderful hobby but obviously not too time consuming ? Sorry @Dovefromabove
Potatoes do also quickly smother emerging weed seedlings, which is a great aid in cultivating new ground, as the first year after clearing exposes so many weed seeds that it will quickly become a jungle if left to its own devices!
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
@Fairygirl completely off topic sorry but how big are the pots you grow sweet peas in? I have reluctantly given up my allotment where I grew my sweet peas and am looking for other ways to grow them. I thought pots wouldn’t work as they are so hungry but willing to learn I was mistaken.
I use ones at around 15 to 18 inches @debs64. Filled with good soil - a J.Innes type if you don't have any garden soil you can use, and manure is also great because it holds water and nutrients well. I use whatever I have around, and add some compost when I put the plants in, plus some slow release food. Later on in summer, I use tomato food as an extra boost. I also grow a lot of them in the shade, especially as i grow whites/creams. They don't need as much sun as info would have you believe. Even here, pots in a south facing aspect [which I do as well] can dry out too readily [ despite our rainfall] because the foliage stops it getting in. I've never had to do the saucer thing though, even last year.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
There is one thing to be aware of when planting potatoes into land that was previously turf/grassland ... wireworms!!! They live in grassy soil and when you grow potatoes there they feast on them. There are wire-worm 'resistant' varieties, but the word to note is 'resistant' ... they're not wireworm 'proof'!!!
The traditional way of turning grassland into a veg plot was to remove the turf and then run poultry on the area for a season to clear the ground of wireworms (chickens love wireworms) ... manure in the autumn and then plant your potatoes the following spring.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
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I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Apparently they grow Powdered eggs and Spam in the US but that may just have been in 1940. Wonderful hobby but obviously not too time consuming ?
Sorry @Dovefromabove
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Filled with good soil - a J.Innes type if you don't have any garden soil you can use, and manure is also great because it holds water and nutrients well. I use whatever I have around, and add some compost when I put the plants in, plus some slow release food. Later on in summer, I use tomato food as an extra boost.
I also grow a lot of them in the shade, especially as i grow whites/creams. They don't need as much sun as info would have you believe. Even here, pots in a south facing aspect [which I do as well] can dry out too readily [ despite our rainfall] because the foliage stops it getting in. I've never had to do the saucer thing though, even last year.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The traditional way of turning grassland into a veg plot was to remove the turf and then run poultry on the area for a season to clear the ground of wireworms (chickens love wireworms) ... manure in the autumn and then plant your potatoes the following spring.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.