Build your soil with Mulch

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Planting is easy: Just punch holes in the mulch and drop in the seed potatoes. Since you needn't make hills, the rows can be two feet apart instead of three. You needn't weed, either, because the surface material holds down the growth of unwanted plants even quack grass. The tubers will form as usual, only in the top layer instead of in the soil. The 4 1 / 2 pound specimen the girl in the photo is holding grew in about 15 inches of leaves.

The material that produces all those potatoes for you will, of course, be turning itself into good soil at the same time. In the second year you might move the spuds on to another freshly mulched area and try beans or peas or carrots on the first strip.

I continue to use fertilizer at this stage. As the mulch breaks down, however, there's a danger that some elements will build up excessively in the ground. It's safest to use a slow release type to minimize this possibility. My own choice is Migorganite, an organic product made from sewage and often used on lawns because it won't burn the grass. Manures are also useful, but if fresh they should first be composted to kill weed seeds. "Hot" types like chicken or horse droppings should be mixed with plenty of sawdust, leaves or other organic material, and the pile turned over every time it reaches a high temperature.

The unmulched portions of your garden, of course, can be steadily improved with compost. I also get extra value from my big piles of waste by using them to grow heat loving plants like squash, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. The warmth of the fermentation serves as a protection from light frost a help in these parts, where the growing season is none too long. I can't turn the material, of course, with a crop flourishing on top of it, but the wastes in the interior of the heap break down anyhow and can be removed after harvest.

The same method that lets me raise good garden vegetables on my poorest soil also produces beautiful flowers. I've grown the nicest glads you could ask for on rock, in a mulch of paper covered with lawn clippings to keep it from blowing around and the dahlias in my front yard thrive in a deep layer of ground bark.

I know from experience that time and waste material can help any gardener rebuild his land's barren spots and, if he's willing to make the necessary investment in fertilizer, he won't have to go hungry while he waits.

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