Potato Drills – Growing the Old Irish Way | The Irish Channel

<h2>Growing the old Irish Way</h2> All over Ireland the marks of this ancient style of cultivation can still be seen in the landscape. During colonisation, when indigenous families were moved of their ancestral lands, they often had to start new farms form scratch on poor soils. One way yo build fertility quickly in mountian conditions, whether on sand, stone of peat, was to create these old fashioned drills, or lazy beds. To plant potatoes this way you need: * a barrow of manure or compost * a spade for cutting through the sod * a mattock or garden fork for lifting the sod * seed potatoes You start by laying out the maure in a line, before cutting the sod around it. First close to the manure, then about a spades width away. Once the sods are cut lay your potatoes down about 15 inches apart and use the mattock or fork to turn the sod over onto the potato. This covers them and creates a trench that we will dig later to earth up the spuds as they grow. Main crop potatoes can be planted up till the last frost, which is 15th May in my part of the world. They will be ready in about 120days, or once the flowers fall. They can be left in the ground till Christmas or harvested and stored in sacks.   Credit to : Express the Best

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