Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
From weeds to harvest-ready potatoes in 11 weeks 🥔🌱
No dig method with compost + black plastic over bindweed. Potatoes thriving!
A very weedy start – but a thriving no dig potato bed just 11 weeks later. This allotment was full of perennial weeds: bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), buttercup, dandelion, grasses and more.
Instead of digging, I laid compost directly over the weeds – no cardboard – then covered the area with black reusable polythene (not membrane). Slits were cut for planting seed potatoes (Jazzy & Hopesafe, both second earlies).
🌱 No Dig Setup:
• Compost smothers weeds below
• Black polythene blocks light and preserves moisture
• Slits allow potatoes to be planted directly
💧 Watering & Maintenance:
• Only watered twice this very dry spring
• Moisture retention excellent under plastic
• Bindweed weakens over time from light deprivation
• Use a trowel to remove new shoots as roots exhaust themselves
🥔 After 11 Weeks:
• Potatoes growing vigorously
• Most weeds are dead, plastic reusable for future beds
• Polythene gives better control than cardboard when dealing with tough perennials
🧤 A good method for reclaiming overgrown ground with minimal effort and no digging.
🎥 See more in this video on growing squash through holes in plastic while weeds die underneath:
👉 youtu.be/ZoWFHqatq68
#nodig #charlesdowding #potatoes #weedcontrol #growyourown #gardeningtips
From weeds to harvest-ready potatoes in 11 weeks 🥔🌱
No dig method with compost + black plastic over bindweed. Potatoes thriving!
A very weedy start – but a thriving no dig potato bed just 11 weeks later. This allotment was full of perennial weeds: bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), buttercup, dandelion, grasses and more.
Instead of digging, I laid compost directly over the weeds – no cardboard – then covered the area with black reusable polythene (not membrane). Slits were cut for planting seed potatoes (Jazzy & Hopesafe, both second earlies).
🌱 No Dig Setup:
• Compost smothers weeds below
• Black polythene blocks light and preserves moisture
• Slits allow potatoes to be planted directly
💧 Watering & Maintenance:
• Only watered twice this very dry spring
• Moisture retention excellent under plastic
• Bindweed weakens over time from light deprivation
• Use a trowel to remove new shoots as roots exhaust themselves
🥔 After 11 Weeks:
• Potatoes growing vigorously
• Most weeds are dead, plastic reusable for future beds
• Polythene gives better control than cardboard when dealing with tough perennials
🧤 A good method for reclaiming overgrown ground with minimal effort and no digging.
🎥 See more in this video on growing squash through holes in plastic while weeds die underneath:
👉 youtu.be/ZoWFHqatq68
#nodig #charlesdowding #potatoes #weedcontrol #growyourown #gardeningtips
