Well, the potato towers we planted this spring are still hanging in there. I kind of wish I could knock them over to see what’s inside but the leaves are still thriving and everything is green so I better not. {Plus, I know if I wait, the potatoes will get bigger!} 😉
Potato Tower #1 – I covered the potatoes with 6 inches of dirt. My plan with tower #1 was to add additional dirt {but no more potatoes} as the potato leaves begin to pop through the soil.
I’ve only added dirt twice so far and since the stems are not super huge, I just decided to stop there and see what happens. This is the only tower with leaves growing straight up.
Potato Tower #2 – I covered the potatoes with 6 inches of dirt, then added 5 more potatoes. I ended up doing this 3 times. Someone had suggested I try this method to see if it would grow more potatoes.
So far so so good. Nothing to exciting to report other than leaves are popping out of the sides and I am starting to see a wee bit of yellow. I’m not sure if it’s from lack of water or if this spud plant is on it’s way out.
Potato Tower #3 – This tower was planted with alternating layers of potatoes, dirt, potatoes, straw, potatoes, dirt. Again, someone suggested this growing method because it had worked for them.
This tower surprised me. Because we packed so much soil and straw inside of the wire , I thought for sure we’d suffocate the plant and nothing would grow but I was totally wrong. Potato tower #3 seems to be doing the best out of all of the towers.
And then we have the compost bin made out of recycled wood pallets. What a show off. Do you see how dark and green those leaves are? Monkey Boy and the HH have been adding grass clippings to the bin each week after they mow.
Basically these potatoes have been drugged with whatever fertilizers they’re using on the grass {I don’t as questions because I have nothing to do with lawn maintenance}.
I think when it comes time to harvest these babies it will be interesting to see how they compare with the ones grown in the towers. I have a feeling thought that the potatoes will be huge. What do you think?
~Mavis
Are you growing potatoes this year? How is your crop coming along?
To find out how I built my potato towers go here: How to Build a Potato Tower
Kate says
Mavis – I just had a thought. If you are using chemicals on the grass, it’s possible that they are transferring to the potatoes in the compost. You might want to check to make sure you won’t be ingesting anything toxic!
Jesse says
Those compost bin potoatoes are going to be the best because you ignored them. I threw a couple of spagetti squash seedlings into the compost pile and they are 10X the size of the ones in the garden on irrigation that get fertilized and de-bugged. So frustrating!
PattyB says
It’s because compost is so yummy to plants!
Chris says
I like seeing your pictures, Mavis. My potato towers are some sort of contraption I put together with rotten lumber and filled with both straw and manure. The plants are just going crazy this year!
Anke Pietsch says
You towers look great. I had to knock mine over with almost no harvest. Slugs and other critters were eating the plants, I had almost no leaves left and couldn’t dig more slugs out in the straw… 🙁 We had a few very wet weeks, but I guess I will go back to the “normal” potato planting next year…
I would also investigate what kind of fertilizer is on the compost piles from the grass clippings…
Nancy says
My Grampa was born in 1906. He always talked about “robbing” the potatoes so his mom could make new potatoes and peas on white sauce. He continued to “rob” his potatoes in his gardens as an adult. If you reach into the dirt under the plant you can feel with your finger how big the potatoes are without moving them. I was wondering if you could do the same with your towers It doesn’t hurt the plant and often makes more room for the ones left to grow. Our family thinks “robbed” potatoes are the best and argue who gets to do it!
Paula says
I wouldn’t worry about the grass fertilizer. It clearly doesn’t include an herbicide, or your potato plants wouldn’t look so healthy, lol!
Heather says
I am growing mine in a metal garbage can with drainage holes in the bottom. Unfortunately the metal can is getting so hot the potato plant is requiring a lot of water so next year I think I will go with a plastic can. Who knew in the PNW we could get so much sun for so many days in a row? I love your potato towers. I am also dying to dump my can too and get those potatoes.
Teri says
My first year for taters. I’m using the bags. I put 6″ organic potting soil then 4 spuds then covered with about 6″ more soil. As the foliage popped up and got to about 4″, I covered it with my compost. I have 5 bags, all doing well. The foliage is probably 18″ above the bags now, has bloomed and may be waning. I’m dying to find out what’s inside!!
Initial lessons learned: do not plant different varieties in the same bag. They grow at different rates, making it hard to add dirt/compost.
Mindy says
I am using the bags also (I only have 2) and have used almost exactly the samr process as you. The foliage looks great with a couple yellow leaves which makes me think maybe harvest sill come sooner than later. I am so excited because it is my first year growing them also!
Teri Kruse says
My foliage is falling over and a bit of yellow. I’m excited!
Nicole says
This is the first year I have planted potato towers. I built 2 of them out of 2x4s placed a layer of newspaper on the bottom, added straw, added a thin layer manure, placed the potato seeds and covered with a mixture of straw and manure. I continued to cover with more manure as the plants grew every 6-10inches. My gardening gal told me I would burn the plants by adding manure but the plants continued (& still continue) to grow. As the plants would grow I would add another row of boards with a space between them so light would aid in the growth (especially after watching all these YouTube videos of people only finding 6 teeny tiny potatoes at the end of the season). The plants started to grow out between the boards. My towers are about 2 1/2 feet tall and the plants are green, lush and about 4 feet tall. The final layer I added was about 6 inches of rich compost (& added some potatoes I found growing in my compost). Buried within the layers is a soaker hose that goes straight across the two towers. It was supposed to water only the top, but I decided on a whim to bury it. With this method you’re supposed to be able to remove the bottom boards to harvest the mature potatoes, but I have decided to just leave it be until the plants start to show me they’re ready for harvest.
The small potatoes I pulled from the compost had 50 cent sized potatoes. Another thing I threw into my compost was some old popcorn kernels I found in my cupboard from an unknown time ago. I now have corn growing in my compost that is about knee high. I’m not expecting anything off of it (I have my 4 rows of corn already growing in my garden) but it’s cool how anything and everything sprouts in compost. Happy gardening!
Jess says
Hi Mavis! I was looking for the ‘how to build a potato tower’ post and the link above is not working… 🙁