Yesterday, the kids and I went to the feed store to buy a bag of chicken feed. As we were walking to the counter to check out, I noticed a display of crocks on one of the end caps and stopped to take a look. For years now I have been wanting to attempt to make sauerkraut. But I didn’t have a stoneware crock {which I later found out from Zoe, I didn’t even need in the first place}. I think I must have stood there a good 5 minute trying to decide if I should buy the 1 gallon, 3 gallon or 5 gallon crock.
While I was standing there trying to decided which size to buy, it never once occurred to me what I would actually do with 1 ,3 or 5 gallons of sauerkraut once I made it. That happened later.
Anyway, so I was now walking to the counter with a ticket for feed, and a 3 gallon crock. Then I saw a big sign.
Onion Sets $1.00 Price Reduced.
Crap.
And then there was another sign.
Seed potatoes 50% off.
Double Crap.
I went in for chicken feed, and came out with a crock, 100 onion sets and 9 pounds of seed potatoes.
Did I mention I am going to have to now somehow find the room {and the time} to plant all this stuff I didn’t know I needed?
Well, as we were driving home, I thought…
Hey, maybe one of those potato towers is ready to harvest. Maybe I can just go out there and push one over and harvest some new potatoes. That would give me some extra space right? Right?
No such luck.
Looks like Monkey Boy will be digging a few trenches today. I’m not so sure this whole potato tower thing is going to work out.
Mavis wants to know:
Did YOU plant a potato tower this year?
Have you taken a peek at your potatoes yet?
Need a crock? Amazon has them, but you’ll probably find one cheaper at your local feed or hardware store.
Saralie says
Wondering how your potato burlap bag trial is going for you?
Saralie says
I plan to let mine flower, die, then wait 2-3 weeks until harvest.
Melanie says
I flipped mine 2 weeks ago-had planted them in the beginning of March-I had 3 towers…one of red potatoes, one Idaho, and one a yellow variety…I started with 5 lbs of potatoes seeds, and ended up with 10 lbs of potatoes-lol. The tops were dying back so I figured it was safe-maybe I should have waited longer-also found out in the process that ants really like to make their happy house in the towers. I planted a second round the next day-going to have to refrain from peeking this time!
LisaB says
You won’t have potatoes until your plants have flowered. Some people harvest when the flowers die but I don’t think they’re done growing quite then. Some people harvest when the whole leaf system has withered but that makes for a tougher/thicker skin than we like. We harvest ours just when the first few inches of the leaves/stems have started to wither. I’m not sure when you planted yours but around here (western wa) harvest seems to be about August.
My potatoes in a barrel are doing fabulously and I just gave them a light snack of rabbit poo the other day 🙂
Melannie says
We always wait until the potato “berries” have developed and the plant has died back.
Christopher says
Hi Mavis,
I planted some towers last year from a few seed potatoes I received from my father. Since I had never planted potatoes, I wanted to do it “right”, and all the webpages I saw had these marvelous three foot towers of beautiful new potatoes at harvest. My harvest was, shall I say, less that what I expected. I still got some new potatoes, and since I had never planted them, I was pretty thrilled with myself, but no where near what I was expecting. I presume I did something wrong since all the spuds were at ground level; not a single one developed in my tower.
This year I planted (spring planting in TX here is Feb.15) a more conventional plot using 10″ raised beds. I planted the seed about eight inches down, and then filled in the dirt as the plants grew. I planted two varieties, one white and one red. Only the red variety flowered prior to the plants dying back. I harvested mostly at the new stage and only removed the potatoes that were ready leaving the plant to produce more. I planted a little less than 10 lbs and harvested about 35 lbs.
I hope you have better luck with the rest of your towers. I would suggest you plant some of your new seed potatoes though using a several different methods. Experiment and then use what works best.
Mavis says
Thanks Christopher, I am planning on planting those new seed potatoes in a trench! 🙂 As an avid gardener, I think it’s fun to try new things. Sometimes it works and well sometimes… 🙂