New Way To Plant Potatoes

I read about planting potatoes above ground in tires or barrels and as the potatoes grow, you add dirt as you go. So why not make planter boxes and add additional layers as the potatoes grow?


So Poppy  got out the handy old tool belt and we headed down to the greenhouse. He built two planter boxes, put down some black plastic and then headed to the mulch pile to find the most decomposed mulch.


On top of the black plastic was put a fairly thick layer of straw. The kids loved throwing the straw in their hair but it won't be so funny once they start itching.

Poppy  dumped the mulch into the planter and leveled it out with a shovel. Of course he had all kinds of help as you can see.







Then it was time to plant the potatoes. We may have planted too many potatoes in each box, but we will see. The potatoes that I planted in March must have washed out or drowned from all the rain we had because I only have a few plants coming up. Lot of work for so few plants! So I am counting on getting lots of potatoes from these beds. According to the magazine article, potatoes grow on the stems of the potatoes , so if you keep adding dirt as the potatoes grow, then you will have potatoes growing all the way up the plant that is under the dirt. Then when the potatoes are ready to dig, you just start taking down the planter boxes one level at a time. Much easier than digging with a potato fork--assuming it works. We shall see.
















I couldn't help shooting this picture of my grandson playing the part of a plumber as he played with his truck.