I decided to do something different this year. In years past I had grown potatoes in the traditional hills. the re-mounding weekly and then digging got me looking into different methods of planting potatoes this year.
Enter the potato tower
I had some leftover lumber from a different project, so I decided to use it and try making a tower to grow the potatoes in.
- First I dug down about 8 inches in a square the size of my finished bed. In this case the bed is 48" x 48". This is too big in my opinion, and should be 36" x 36" at most. Adding dirt, grass clippings and manure here is a bit of a pain because of the size.
- I constructed the frame from 2x10's and some spare 2x4's and a spare 4x4.
- I planted my seed potatoes at the bottom of my 8" deep trench and covered them with about 6" - 10" of soil. I planted early, so I covered them with a little more soil than normal.
- as they grow, I just add a combo of chicken manure, grass clippings, wood shaving from the coop and dead leaf mold from last year.
As they grow more Ill have to add another layer of 2x10's or maybe just 2x8's or something when its time to mound them again.
I planted some leftover marigolds in front of the bed. In the fall, after the potatoes are out, Ill use the bed as a raised bed, maybe transplanting some Brussels sprouts there or broccoli, or maybe just some salad greens?
Follow me for updates on the potato tower and its yield. I'm really hoping it works well. I started with 9 seed potatoes in the 4' x 4' bed, so Ill have to see how many lbs of potatoes I get from doing it this way.
Happy Gardening
CavemanRob
"Nobody owns you, Nobody owes you"