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When planting potatoes does the trench system allow more growth than say boring a hole big enough for the seed?

I heard where the more soil dug out can get necessary bacteria destroyed when the sunlight hits it, that's why farmed land is dead and needs oil dependant/based fertiliser on it to grow anything. My garden is organic and I grow fairly successfully each year but I have a small part shady garden so I would not think it matters much about digging trenches I grow several but if I could max' them would be good. I use home-made compost and get taters the size of yore head (nearly). The question is........Dig or Not? Any thoughts from experience? I just wondered if they need a dug space to grow into.

Public Comments

1. No just easier to find the spud in trenches without standing on them and crushing
2. I double-dug my garden 10 years ago, but have since never done any digging! I take care not to step on the soil, and of course I add plenty of manure & home-made compost every year. Home grown tatties - yummie!
3. Many organic gardeners agree it's best not to do any more digging than is necessary to control weeds and plant things, and with my back and advancing years, I find this a comforting theory. The idea is that too much unnecessary digging breaks up the soil structure and disturbs the worm tunnels, also it exposes more of the soil to the wind and weather, and this dries it out or washes away nutrients, depending on the weather. I would normally have dug the potato patch quite thoroughly the autumn before, to remove any weeds, and then cover it during the winter with a big sheet of weedproof membrane, which stops weeds growing and also protects the soil from the effects of rain leaching nutrients from the soil and causiing it to pan. When the cover comes off, the worms have been working away and the ground is lovely and easy for planting. I think you do need clean soil, and one of the reasons growing potatoes is so effective at clearing weedy ground is because you have to dig it several times, before planting and again repeatedly at harvesting, to get them all out. I find it's easier, and just as effective, to stretch out my measuring line and go along with a good-sized dibber or a small spade and make a hole for each potato, spacing them carefully, then add a handful of organic potato fertiliser to each hole, if you're using it, and just cover it up. Then, if you can mulch the rows when they start to grow, using compost or manure if available. The worms will take it down, and it's less work than the traditional 'earthing-up,' which in any case I've found is inclined to cover one row at the expense of exposing the next one. If you've not got any compost or manure, wood chippings from the garden processor or grass clippings are also good. If you don't actually want such huge potatoes, be careful not to rub off the shoots before you plant them. Fewer shoots mean larger potatoes and if you leave them on you'll get the same weight of crop but smaller spuds.
4. I always have the best success with spuds when i use a shopping basket and my wallet.
5. If the soil in your potato area is not deep and loose, digging a trench loosens that much more soil which allows the potato roots to spread and produce easier. Hard soil can also cause malformed potatoes. The reason a lot of farmed soil is dead is not so much sun killing the bacteria, but because constant and heavily tilled soil leaches faster and because the soil nutrients have been used up by the plants. The potato plants can certainly use space, so go ahead and dig a trench. Digging a potato trench in your garden doesn't exactly qualify as constant and heavy tilling.
6. I'm not much of a gardener, but my grandfather used to dig the trenches and plant them in the hills of the trenches. He believed that the sun warmed the soil better promoting more growth and better drainage.
7. the trench method is the best. dig the soil over and add organic material eg. compost or manure. make a small trench to plant the pototes and then cover.A good potato fertiliser and do not walk on the ground more than necessary. As potatoes need lots of water I do not earth the pototes up, this allows the plants more space to grow and more water for the plants. the farmers earth their crops up to make it easier for there machines to lift the crop. the question about a dibber.not a good idea as if the potato does not go to the bottom of the bibbed hole and an air space is left this can cause the potato to rot.
8. If you are going to use the Trench system, make sure that any "collateral damage" from WWI is well rotted down, or your Potatoes might get infected with Trench foot, or shell shock. Hope this Helps!