On the north side of our house there was a large area that used to be an herb garden. It had become overgrown with english ivy and weeds. Last year we removed all of the ivy and other plants in order to grass seed the area. We never did get around to planting grass seed. After a long winter of trying to decide what to do with the space, we decided to plant a potato patch. Potatoes are known to be a good "cleaning" crop for a newly planted space. They will grow very dense foliage, helping to keep weeds out and they require that the soil be worked three times. Once at planting, again when mounding up around the foliage and again at harvest. We planted five 10 foot rows of a basic russet type potato (actual seed potatoes, not grocery store types). Each seed was planted 6" deep and 15" away from the next one. The rows are about 30" apart. In between each row, an ample amount of straw was laid. This will help retain moisture and reduce weeds. It will also be a beneficial agent for the soil. Compaction prevention, soil builder, etc.... We would prefer hay over straw, but we could only source straw at the time. Straw has seeds in it where hay does not. However, we've used straw in the past with no ill effects.
We'll follow up on the potato patch as the season progresses. There are no pictures posted right now as this is blog post as serving as a quick garden journal entry so we don't forget what we did.
