Day 5: This was going so well! No dig potatoes in woodchip

Join me at 12pm in the live chat and let me know if I've just made a HUGE mistake!!!
Welcome to my "12 Days of Easter" series: 12 days, 12 vlogs, all less than 12 minutes, and released at 12 noon (GMT) with a 'premiere' LIVE CHAT.
Expect lots of Spring jobs on the allotment plot and in the home veg garden, including vegetable and flower sowings, planting out potatoes, building structures, trying new tools, taking cuttings, and who knows what else the next two weeks will bring!
Day 5 and I'm on the plot to plant the first early potatoes - if the rain will hold off... (spoiler alert: it doesn't!). I'm going for a no dig method using straw, grass clippings and woodchip - but I may have made a fatal mistake 😬🙈
Mentions:
‪@ThatBritishHomestead‬ - • Deep Mulch and Potato ...
‪@MyFamilyGarden‬ - • What's the Best Way to...
Thank you for watching 💕😊
You can also find me on Instagram at / dogontheplot 🐶

[@dogontheplot]

Will it be fine?? Please tell me it will be fine!! I guess we'll find out in 3-4 months...

[@ericandrachallotmenteers]

It'll be fab!! 😚

[@evirosy5531]

Yes, you gonna have lovely potatoes,don't worry:-) My potatoes just grow from the compost... I don't plant them, just from potatoe's skin... The same tomatoes...they grow in the pots from leftover dry tomatoes from previous season:-)

[@dogontheplot]

@@evirosy5531 I love volunteer plants. I think I'm actually going to have quite a few potato plants popping up around the plot - I'm sure I most have missed loads when harvesting last year!!

[@nitelite78]

Fantastic rainbow. Since I've got an allotment last year I've really come to appreciate colourful skies more.

[@dogontheplot]

Oh yes and I love capturing those big skies on camera. The rainbow was such a joy

[@Stephen474]

They be fine Kerry, unless any leaves fell off and are in the soil🤣, think positive they will be the best spuds you have grown with all that goodness on 😀Steve Colwell

[@dogontheplot]

Positive mental attitude - indeed!!! Thank you Steve

[@debz_vegplot]

It'll be fine is one of my most used phrases. So much that i think my husband would like to slap me every time i say it 🤣🤣

[@dogontheplot]

Haha. Positive mental attitude !!! 😀

[@UrbanWhiteBuffaloFarm]

Hello Kerry, That was the most fun!! The potato planting in ground just as it should be. We still have 4" of snow so couple more weeks for me. You really had me laughing during the potato section. Is there anything much more stunning than a double rainbow? I have always loved rainbows esp double rainbows!! I love how natural you are while speaking and looking into the camera just as if we were right there with you. That is the endearing quality I see in all of your videos. Thank you for this video I will be looking forward to tomorrow bye for now, Steven

[@dogontheplot]

Thank you Steven. It was a fun afternoon on the plot - hard work though! (For me 🤣). Glad you're enjoying the channel. See you tomorrow 👍

[@spudsandroses]

Well, busy lady 🤗🙌 I've caught up with all of your latest happenings 😍 First of all, brilliant 👏 and well done, your chilli 🌶 plants look really strong and sturdy, good growth. I pinched some back 2 years ago and left others as were. I didn't notice much difference in harvest, but the pinched out ones needed more support after... Loved, loved, loved your red jumper ❤️ in the next video. The colour just pops on you 🥰 I like to use clear plastic too on carrotts, warms the soil, can easily see if germination is happening, the slugs cannot get to it and the weight of the plastic is not as severe as a plank of timber would be... Stunning shaking work with the peas 🫛 it looked so cool, coming out of the gutters. Delighted for you 😊 Beautiful potatoes 🥔 fine chits on them and stunning rainbow 🌈 to accompany the gardening jobs 😀 🤞 the spuds will grow well 😊 Happy Easter, Kerry 🍬

[@dogontheplot]

Aw thank you Maiju. You little binger!!! 😂 Happy Easter to you too 🌱💕

[@ThatBritishHomestead]

I love the taste of home grown potatoes they are so yummy! I do get a lot of slugs! I need to make sure I harvest them all before the rainy season comes! I only do main crop! And I plant them all now like a rebel Oooo yes woodchip potato method! I have to say you get some odd shapes but they are fine!!

[@dogontheplot]

I'd expect nothing less from you Nik!! Thank you for the woodchip inspo 💕

[@ThatBritishHomestead]

@@dogontheplot thanks ok I hope it works out for you! Just make sure they have a LOT of water that's what I have found... for some odd reason I thought, when I started gardening that potatoes would rot when you watered them so I didn't give them enough water.... I'm sure you're not as silly as me tho! lol if they don't work out you can always blame me lol

[@debradevine3949]

It is late in the evening but didn't miss your post! Ha just think on day 1 who were casually wearing a cotton shirt and jeans and sun shining. Now on the 5th day your dressed for winter. Crazy weather but that hasn't stopped your and Dori. Great job.

[@dogontheplot]

Oh gosh the weather has been all over the place. Luckily I've been filming mostly early in the days (because nextdoor's builders were arriving at 8.30am!) and that seems to have been the sunniest times - afternoon hits and the heavens open!

[@debradevine3949]

@@dogontheplot oh my!

[@Passionbloom52]

Really enjoyed this video 😊

[@dogontheplot]

Thank you Lorraine ☺️🌱

[@TheRightPearPlot]

so nearly bought some Duke of York yesterday......I resisted as I have so many other varieties. So another for my next year list.

[@dogontheplot]

I was really pleased with it last year. I think there's a pic of the colour on my insta grid. So bright!

[@The_Dandy_Life]

I am loving these videos! Now I think your potatoes will be fine... there is early blight, late blight, in the soil, not in the soil, can compost blight, not compost blight 🤷‍♀️ So all in all...its always a gamble! I grew potatoes in the same bed 3 years on the row, the first year had blight...not the second or 3rd. (I don't grow main crop...maybe this is why it didn't matter?) ANYWAY....its all part of the 'fun'. Xxx

[@dogontheplot]

You're so right Claire!! Last summer was so wet there was no escaping the blight anyway!! Thank you for commenting - I'm really glad you're enjoying this little detour!

[@GardenofEmma]

Great potato choices 😊

[@dogontheplot]

I'm excited!! 😆

[@myrustygarden]

I don’t think you would have got 35 in 😂😂 good thing it’s only 29. Oh not titivating 🤭🤭 but I am sure they will be absolutely fine and get great 🥔. Happy Easter Friday see you tomorrow, Ali ☔️🇨🇦

[@dogontheplot]

I could not count those bloody potatoes!!! 😂😂🤣

[@jasonwoods4811]

Sorry I missed it going live, I will try agin tomorrow, hope you are ok Kerry :D

[@dogontheplot]

No worries Jason. Hope to see you tomorrow 😊

[@ericandrachallotmenteers]

Thanks for this Kerry as I'm still learning about tatties. I can't find Orla anywhere! But popping out over this weekend so will look out for them. Dorie doesn't care 😂😂😂 eeee that was so funny 🤣👏🏽 Another great video. ☔️🌈🐾

[@dogontheplot]

Yeh I only found them in one garden centre - the Blue Diamond chain one. I hope they live up to the hype...

[@ericandrachallotmenteers]

@@dogontheplot fingers crossed I'll look about as there are loads of places near us 😁👍🏽

[@Nicktgrief]

Blight is as you say air borne to spread but needs living tissue to overwinter so any roots in the soil will be dead (probably by drowning with the state of your site 🤣) ... my only concern would be that wood chip takes a lot of nitrogen to break down but looking at that stuff it looks partly composted anyway and the grass will help - it may even help with the drainage on your plot. Pots are my preferred method these days and they're not that expensive to buy (LBS sell a 30ltr pot for about £3 each) its just the compost that's the expensive bit but you can always re-use it (watch terry King or DIggy) or I tend to mix a bit of blood fish and Bone ( vegan options are available I believe) and use it as a mulch around my roses etc - I was put off the manure route with the pesticide problem a few years back.

[@dogontheplot]

That's reassuring! I'm doing the three leftover potatoes in buckets as the control group. Will be interesting to compare the yield (altho prob a bit hard to tell...)

[@anitahaywood9827]

The orla I grew last year were amazing, lovely flavour, doing them again this year 😊😊 I dont think you have made a mistake at all, it is air bourn, I do compost blighted toms, Mr Dowding says so lol

[@dogontheplot]

Phew. Everyone is being very positive! Glad to hear the Orla was good for you. I'm looking forward to it 💕

[@kathysumner1443]

'it's fine

[@dogontheplot]

Totally fine. All fine.

[@BumblebeeAdventure]

🐝Thanks for the great video🌻 They be fine, they be fine? Will they be fine 🤣 And a new mantra is born 🤣

[@dogontheplot]

Haha - positive mental attitude!

[@nitelite78]

I wouldn't worry about blight. Nobody gets blight early in the season. If blight in soil from last years plants was really an issue then you would always hear stories of people getting late blight on their plants in April and May. I've never heard that. Think the potato depth should be fine. It looks like you've piled the stuff high but I, like many others, grow in containers and top the potatoes with a good foot of soil/compost and the potatoes always make it too the surfaces within 2 or 3 weeks. A tuber has plenty of growth energy in it to make it through soft, loose material like wood chip and grass. The only thing I did think was what happens if the grass gets matted when wet but I suspect the potato shoots will reach the surface long before that happens and the grass layers are thin anyway.

[@dogontheplot]

That's reassuring! And yes I tried to keep the grass layer pretty thin. That was one of the issues I had left year with no dig potatoes - as the mulching layers broke down they sank and the potatoes were exposed unless you were constantly adding more material. Hoping the woodchips prevent this happening as much because they have more body to them. If nothing else Ive created a really nice mulch for that bed 🤣🤣

[@bethanskitchengarden]

Hi Kerry, well done on getting your spuds in, I still have to do mine. You should be ok with blight, I think it only lives on living tissue. Take care 😊

[@dogontheplot]

Yes the consensus was that the potatoes should be fine. Phew! How are you going to do yours? I still have second earlies and main crop to do but now I don't have much woodchip left!

[@bethanskitchengarden]

@@dogontheplot I put some of my first and seconds in a long line behind my asparagus, straight in the soil with a bit of potato fertiliser and my main crop go in some wooden raised beds in my back garden, any spares go in pots. Can you grow in pots? I have seen people grow in straw before with the potato placed and the ground and covered with straw instead of compost 🤔😀

[@dogontheplot]

@@bethanskitchengarden yes I did mostly straw and grass clippings last year but I had to be careful because as it breaks down it sinks and the potatoes were getting exposed, so you have to be on it with the earthing up. I might try compost bags this year...

[@bethanskitchengarden]

@@dogontheplot I’ve grown in compost bags before and found that when the foliage flopped over it caused the lip of the bag to flop too so when I was watering, the water was running off. I didn’t support the plants though so I guess if I had supported them they wouldn’t have flopped and I would have found watering easier😊

[@dogontheplot]

@@bethanskitchengarden oh thank you - that's a really good tip.

[@1pandroid]

A double rainbow must be a sign that it'll all work out.👍Be interesting to see how the woodchips work. I'm going exclusively fabric grow bags this year. Less faffing around with the digging up/volunteers. Nice video😎

[@dogontheplot]

Oh yes, I like that! 🌈🌈 I dont mind volunteers because they're usually the best I grow! 🤣

[@RobinGardens]

That rainbow was amazing. Love the potato idea, I hope it works out well....I mean 'It will be fine'😀🥰

[@dogontheplot]

It will be fiiiiiine!!!!! 🤣 It was a gorgeous rainbow 🌈

[@elizabethlake6986]

Who needs the gym! Job well done, fingers crossed they will be ok. Always lovely to see Dorie.

[@dogontheplot]

Absolutely!! That was a proper workout! Thank you for watching Elizabeth

[@LittleGreenShedAllotment]

Great video, love how Dorie watches you when positioning the potatoes! 😂 and it will be fine 😊

[@dogontheplot]

She was so indifferent though Christine, haha. IT WILL BE FIIIIIINE!!

[@Brenda-xc7sq]

It will be fine, blight cannot live in the soil, its needs living plant tissue to survive. Any tomato roots will probably not survive in our winter temperatures. This is a great series you are making and you do it so well.

[@dogontheplot]

Aw thank you Brenda - and that's reassuring about the blight 👍

[@adysveggarden]

Hi Kerry, sorry I missed the live chat again. I don't know the answer regarding the blight but you can compost blight effected tomatoes and the hard frost we had would have killed the roots in the top soil so hopefully the roots are long dead and the potatoes will be fine.

[@dogontheplot]

Ah no worries. That all sounds very encouraging, thank you Ady!

[@michelleann1899]

Addie and I are here...🍃💟🍃

[@dogontheplot]

Thank you for joining. Hope Addie enjoyed seeing Dorie's contributions

[@cazhardcastle9096]

It’ll be fine 👍🏻😘🤣

[@dogontheplot]

just keep saying it Caz - it'll be fiiiiiiine

[@cazhardcastle9096]

@@dogontheplot 🤣🤣🤣😘

[@myrustygarden]

🌈🌈🌈🌈 gorgeous

[@dogontheplot]

Wasn't it just!