The Modern Victory Garden

Saturday I lifted the potatoes from the 4-foot by 32-foot bed they have been growing in.   As many of you know, I used the John Jeavon’s method of planting potatoes this year and was anxious to do the final dig and weighing to see if I improved my yield per square foot of planting area used.   Last year (using the trenching method) I got a total of 120 lbs from two beds that combined had a total square footage of 208.   This computes to a yield of 0.58 lbs per square foot.   This year (using the John Jeavon’s method of planting potatoes) I got a total of 170.25 lbs in one growing bed that had a square footage of 128.   This computes to a yield of 1.33 lbs per square foot!   I more than doubled the yield per square foot by using this planting method.   It has other benefits too, in that the bed is double dug and amended well in the spring and once planted you pretty much just leave them alone other than watering and slug removal etc. until you are ready to harvest.   Here’s a short video of the dig process and results.                           

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener