Kitchen Garden Forum

I wonder if anyone has experience of growing new potatoes in the same ground as last years?

We try to get fresh ground each year but this year the land we got in the autumn is extremely heavy clay and has not been cultivated for years and is also very wet. We can't get much tilth on it so we will plough it again and put our maincrop in there.

We are now stuck with putting the rest of the early potatoes in the ground we grew them last year.

I appreciate many growers in Jersey and Cornwall grow theirs in the same land but what if any are the pitfalls?

The land is very light with a deep tilth and we lifted last years crop before any evidence of blight.

Barney

Well I think crop rotation is an ideal, but have grown spuds in same spot on a small garden plot many times and had no problem, but I have been lucky with disease, so risk it for a biscuit but not every year.

I know 2 retired farmers who every year plant potatoes in the same ground in their gardens, admittedly they incorporate loads of muck provided by still operating farmers but the crops they get are always good. It makes me wonder if rotation is something I should worry less about,but I still try to do.

Before I took my original allotment on, it had been used to grow only potatoes for four years by the previous tennant who had another plot. He only stopped growing them there because he moved away from the area.

Luckily this does not seem to have caused any problems, as I grew good spuds there the first year I had it, but I have given it a 2 year rest from potatoes now, as I have taken on the adjacent plot too.

Whilst not being ideal, I dont think the odd second crop of the same thing should cause too many problems, especially if there was nothing obviously wrong with the first crop.

My next door neighbour grows three rows of runner beans and potatoes inbetween on the same spot for the 15 years that I have been living here with no problems. I don't know if he sprays with anything (I've never seen him doing any)

I appreciate the reason behind rotation for reducing buildup of disease and pests, but spores will carry long distances, certainly from one end of the allotment to the other, likewise slugs, snails and other little creatures will move, so unless you are looking at huge plots, will you be keeping the pests and diseases down?

However the main point about crop rotation is to build up fertility with your legumes and efficient use of your manures.