I’m actually a little late on this for my neck of the woods but I have gotten my first potato tower in and plan to build several more. This is a VERY frugal way to grow tons of potatoes.
It’ Ain’t Pretty!
It’ Ain’t Fancy!
But You Can Grow Tons of potatoes!
You with me on this? I hope so! If you have not tried to grow potatoes like this definitely do this!
Before you give up on potatoes all together!
All you need is a tomato cage or masonry wire formed into a tomato cage which is what we use.
You need some wheat straw.
You need dirt.
And Of course you need potato starts.
I often cut the starts up and let them cure in the sun for a day or two but we know you don’t have to do that because potatoes come up really great for us in the compost pile. But this is the easiest and cheapest way I have found to plant lots and lots of tomatoes.
I remember when I was telling my Step Dad all my ideas about planting potatoes and sweet potatoes he told me in Alabama where he grew up that they would plant tons of potatoes in tire towers…in particular the beloved sweet potato! This is a simple project and one that just about anyone can try if you think of other ways to grow potatoes please share with me I would love to hear from you!
I so hope you try this if you haven’t!
Growing Your Own Food Is Like Putting Money In Your Pocket!
Have a great week everyone! We are almost halfway there!
Fondly,
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Hi Karen,
Well now, I’d call that fancy 😉 My potatoes aren’t lucky enough to live in a highrise! I always dig down a bit, plant my taters, cover them with soil and then, as they grow I keep hilling more soil, straw, leaves, whatever I’ve got, over the top of the plants. But this sounds like a great way to get more from a small space 🙂
Lisa Lynn we had to embrace the concept one because of the small space and two because of the soil amendments we have to do to because of our sandy soil! Thanks so much for the comment! I am envious of your space for sure!
Looks good!!! I’ve even heard of people growing the potatoes in garbage bags….. Half fill the bag, roll the top of the bag down to that level, plant and as the potato plants grow roll up the bag and add more soil. To harvest, dump the bag out. The soil could be tossed in the garden after or the compost pile or what ever is closest to the area. Mind you , you might want to punch a few holes in the bottom of the bag fro drainage!!! Have fun!!!
Thanks Christine we plan on planting more potatoes this weekend! My friend does the whole bag thing I have not tried that yet…but I might the way the space issue is going this year! So glad you stopped by 🙂
What are potato starts?
I call them potato starts but its seed potatoes and its the little chunks where you cut off the eyes/roots…..To plant potatoes you don’t need to put the entire potato in. I cut the chunks off with the eyes/roots growing and then I cure them in the sun for a day or two. Sorry if I used my own verbage and not standard gardening lingo I tend to do that 😉 Hope that helps!
How do you know when it is time to harvest ?
When they come into flower usually.
Our potatoes are coming up already. I have them in a raised bed and will put some chicken wire around to make the sides higher to add more straw and leaves. We harvest when the plants have died back.
Thanks Angi for sharing I don’t know how I missed your comment so glad you stopped by 🙂
Cool!
Thanks Daisy for stopping in and commenting 🙂
Hello Karen,
Is it too late to start a potatoe tower
It depends on where you live…..I think in Coastal NC if you haven’t started by now I would wait until the fall….tell me what part of the country you are in and if I don’t know I will ask my friends at gardenchat for you on Twitter!
I would love to have seen some step by step photos on this project. Do you fill the cage with soil and straw or soil first and then “mound” the plants over with the straw? How much soil do you need and I suppose that would be the place to plant the potato starts right? For someone that has never grown potatoes, it would help to have really clear (even if it seems so simple to you) instructions and photo’s. Thanks for sharing the tip. The strawberry planter was BEAUTIFUL too! Again, step by step photos would have been nice.
I am building another one tomorrow I will be happy to take step by step photos and update this blog posting thanks so much for your feedback. I can’t get you the step by step on the strawberry planter because my husband The Viking in my life surprised me with it but I will ask him if he will write out step by step what he did to make it 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by I appreciate you wonderful comments!
Here are step by step directions…hopefully this is clearer and I so appreciate your feedback because you are right I am so weak at details….I am such an intuitive thinker so no one wants me to be a cartographer for sure 😉 http://www.lilsuburbanhomestead.com/2013/05/01/potato-tower-step-by-step-instructions/
I’ve tried just about every IN GROUND method I could find, but either the gophers take the crop or somehow the nutrients are not enough to produce a good yield, so I’m giving this method a try. We’ve had one year that was successful and the potatoes were so incredibly good (nothing like store bought) that it’s kept us trying all this time to have a repeat performance. Hope the potato towers work!
Amy I have had great results with these and I recently learned if you have problems with potato beetles that planting tansy (which you probably know is fairly toxic herb) but I have some don’t ask me why ha ha I’m an herb addict 🙂 Planting tansy near your potato tower will keep the potato beetles away I am trying this this summer and I will let you know how it goes! Thanks so much for stopping by 🙂 I need to head over to your place soon…life has just been so busy these days! I have seen some of your goat posts though very impressed! I hope you try this and it works let me know I would love to hear…
I planted potatoes similar to this only I used a layer of newspaper on the outside since I didn’t have any straw … everything is sprouting now – even at the very top … but the compost has compacted to about half the size it was. Should I add more compost to it and cover up the sprouts at the top? Or leave it as is? Help!!
If you add more dirt/compost around the sprouts they will just grow more potatoes so its all good! Does that make sense?