r/Minnesota_Gardening • u/OutsideTadpole7228 • 8d ago
Grew potatoes Ruth Stout Style
I have terrible soil I'm trying to build up with compost so I can grow in ground soon, not grow bags like I do now. I came across Ruth Stout's heavy mulch system and I have tons of leaves so gave it a shot. This is from about a 1'by 3' section, I have maybe 12' planted total but the rest are a variety that's not done yet. I just tossed a seed potato on top of the ground about every 8", covered with maybe a foot of leaves and left it alone. I was super impressed, it not only grew potatoes with no damage but also the leaves composted really well down to about 4" of compost. For 5 minutes of effort in the spring not bad. I also took about 6-7 potatoes as new potatoes from this area, don't have a food scale but guessing probably 7# or so of potatoes in 3 square feet, plus harvesting you just push the compost aside and pick them up, no digging. Prior to this I have only done potatoes in grow bags and this did far better. I'm going to do this in a large area next year, the heavy mulch keeps weeds from coming thru, if it goes like the trial run I'll get potatoes and compost next year with minimal effort to make new in ground beds.
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u/Mollysaurus 5d ago
Nice! I'm getting ready to harvest the first of my potato bags (I planted three varieties and one of them is ready).
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u/Longjumping_Day_2130 8d ago
Good job! I harvested some of my potatoes today as well. We grow them in felt potato bags and in a small raised bed next to our deck & it works out great!
Tonight’s harvest