Potato's!
I love them mashed, fried and baked! They grow pretty easy! So many methods of growing them. There is the Trench method, Raised beds, Potato condo's and Towers. I have seen so many different ideas around the web.
My thoughts last year as we were digging out potato's on our hands and knees in puddles of our own sweat, their must be an easier way! I did the 3 feet deep trenches last year. We probably added 3 feet of soil on top of that. In my eyes, way to much work and way to much space. Don't get me wrong, a homegrown Potato is worth the work! When you are growing enough for a family of 6 to last a few months, you start wondering about easier ways!
I with the help of Super Dave (my hubby) have built a Potato tower. I am hoping by growing them up, it will leave me room to plant other things in my garden. Yes, yes I am also hoping it will be a little easier when harvesting. I work hard enough in my garden, it would be nice to have some of that hard work be a little easier.
We used wood that is 3 by 5 and we will be stacking them 5 high!
My potato's are already growing nicely. As the plants get taller, I will be nailing in wood on all 4 sides.
My wonderful hubby built a frame that will be easy for me to just nail on new boards as I go. As I add boards, I will be adding composted soil, leaving just a few green leaves peeking out at the top!
I am excited to see how this method works for growing Potato's. I am also growing Potato's in a few buckets and a raised bed I made out of an old captains bed.
Here is my son and I as we crammed pieces of the captains bed in my van, good times!
The Captains bed is now a raised bed for potato's.
I am even growing some in 1 trench.
I decided in the end to try many different methods. This way I can see which way is the best way for me to grow potato's.
Do you grow Potato's?
What methods have you tried?
Happy Potato Growing!!!
Posts
I have done the trench method twice. I really want to do the bucket method...we might try it in the school garden. Wonder how many potatoes you'll get each way?
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ReplyDeleteI have grown them similar to your potato tower except using old car tyres and building up the layers as they grow,
ReplyDeleteIt will be great to see the different results you achieve with your different methods.
I'm growing mine currently in a raised bed. they are already covered with a foot of soil and a foot of straw. I was intrigued to try the "no dig" method of starting them on paper with a little compost and growing them up through straw but did not want to end up with too many potatoes as most nights it is only my wife and I for dinner (The benefit of starting your family early). I'll probably try that method next year.
ReplyDeletehey jenn, have you tried growing potatoes with old tyres? here is a link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kiddiegardens.com/growing_potatoes_in_tires.html
while this guide only uses one tyre, my dad says that you can keep adding soil and tyres and the leaves will grow out of the sides..
when you are done (or think you are), simply take off the tyres and you have a load of potatoes...
GardenMom, I plan on keeping track of all these methods! I want to know which has the highest yields to the easiest way to grow!
ReplyDeleteBrisbane Backyards, I have heard alot of people using tires to grow in as well. I know many wonder about the tires leaching when growing food. What are your thoughts? Did you have high yields growing in tires?
Greg, I would love to see how that method works! I'm very interested in the no dig method!What kind of straw do you use?
Sprig, I have seen the tire method done. I guess my only concern would be the tires leaching. I think its a great way to recycle. Mostly its up to the grower on using tires for edibles. What are your thoughts?
Thanks for all your great comments everyone. What are some of your thoughts on growing in tires?
I love it, after inheriting some sporadic potatoes plants in my community plot I swore I would never grow potatoes in the ground. I've been growing them in large containers and it's so much easier. I love your set up it looks nice and probably gets much better yields.
ReplyDeleteI am trying the bucket method for the first time this year. So far they are growing well. The first round of seed potatoes didn't do much of anything because I don't think I gave them enough time to sprout and probably planted them too deep. But now all is well. I also ended with 4-5 extra seed potatoes so I dug a quick trench in the garden and threw them in there, so we'll see which does better. I just posted a blog post on my potatoes yesterday in fact.
ReplyDeletehttp://gardensandals.blogspot.com/2011/05/potatoes-update.html