Planting potatoes

[Lost_Airplane]

The last time I really got excited was after my first batch of beer bread, but today I planted seed potatoes in three kinds of containers.  Next project:  Biltong.  I love the videos, keep 'em coming!

Jeff Drake
St. Louis, Missouri

[portwand]

I love beer bread!!!  My brother & I used to always make it when we were kids.  Two weekends ago, watched video and also planted potatoes in container.  I live in the Carolinas and we have had a couple of cold nights but lots of rain and just checked my container this morning and I have little green shoots poking up from the soil.  I've never grown potatoes before so I am very excited.  Keep me posted on how your potatoes do...

[Lost_Airplane]

I will provide periodic updates on my little spuds!  Jack has really taken my "inner voice" and given it a forum to express itself.  Since listening to the podcasts we have purchased a greenhouse, begun planting veggies under the grow lights, and purchased a small piece of land to eventually serve as our bug-out location.......all things I have been wanting to do for years but needed a kick in the booty to get me started!  And the best part....my wife is totally on board with prepping and food storage.  It makes all the difference. 

Go taters!!
Jeff - St. Louis, MO

[DeepSea1985]

Last year was our first serious year for the vegetable garden at our new home in middle Tennessee and the clay soil presented some challenges. One crop we tried was sweet potatoes with poor success. I may have got them in too late or didn’t add enough compost to loosen up soil. At any rate there was plenty of above ground growth but taters were real small….

So this time around we picked up some seed potatoes at the local farmer’s coop last week and I’m going to try an above ground system ….Tires won’t cut it in the wife’s garden for esthetics reasons and I’d like to incorporate them into the raised garden bed area rather than pots since we’ve already got an irrigation system in place…..So I’m working on a design for an expandable, (in height), box and  using cedar fence boards…If I engineer a workable design that is reasonable simple, (and acceptable to the wife), and it actually produces results I’ll share…

[ModernSurvival]

Last year was our first serious year for the vegetable garden at our new home in middle Tennessee and the clay soil presented some challenges. One crop we tried was sweet potatoes with poor success. I may have got them in too late or didn’t add enough compost to loosen up soil. At any rate there was plenty of above ground growth but taters were real small….

So this time around we picked up some seed potatoes at the local farmer’s coop last week and I’m going to try an above ground system ….Tires won’t cut it in the wife’s garden for esthetics reasons and I’d like to incorporate them into the raised garden bed area rather than pots since we’ve already got an irrigation system in place…..So I’m working on a design for an expandable, (in height), box and  using cedar fence boards…If I engineer a workable design that is reasonable simple, (and acceptable to the wife), and it actually produces results I’ll share…

Simplified Construction

Get 4 Pallets and tie or wire them together in a square

Take cedar fence slats and face the front of each pallet (or just three sides if one side is up against a wall or a fence

Done

You can get the pallets for free the fence slats can often be reclaimed as well too if you look for places where fence is being replaced, etc.  Good way to build a compost bin too.  For a bin skip the slats and just put chicken wire on the inside, build two side by side and mixing is easy too. 

[dhallftworth]

Jack

I'm trying to picture what you said and it's not working... Are we talking about them standing up? Since your local to be.. where do you get your dirt to fill beds, ect.?

[DeepSea1985]

Thanks to Gator on the DIY on posting pictures.........I struggle with technology daily and his posting was most informative. I'll raise an Abita Amber in his honor this weekend at the Jazz Fest..

This is the stacked potato box design I was thinking about. It's made from 6' long cedar fence boards, 2 x 2 for corners strength and galvanized screws. It comes out to be more growing area than a 16" tire. I cut the fence boards at 2 foot length's to minimize waste and it took less than an hour to cut and screw together six of these, not counting the trip to the lumber store. I'm thinking as vines grow I'll stack additional boxes on top and more dirt/compost/straw mixture and see what happens. In a second box not shown we planted Jerusalem Artichokes in same manner.....



On the bottom box the 2 x 2 corner pieces were cut about 2" shorter than height of board. That way the with the upper boxes corner 2 x 2 cut at the height of the boards and attached 2" down it makes upper box lock into place.





The wife is happy it's not old tires and it kinda matches the cedar fence........Time will tell if it's worth while...

[The Wilderness]

Awesome DeepSea1985 ! +1 and thanks for the pics

The Wilderness

[BerserkerPrime]

Dude very Cool!  I was thinking of just a dirt pile and keep mounding dirt on, but this is much more presentable.  Plus I'm fending off moose, rabbits and other critters and this will make that a bit easier.

+1 

Berserker Prime

[firetoad]

Very nice DeepSea!  That is very close to the setup that I am using.  Great minds think alike!   

[ModernSurvival]

dhallftworth here is a pdf on using pallets to make a compost bin http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/dep/greenman/pallets.pdf

They put one on the bottom which you don't need to do but for compost has a real advantage - airflow - not something to do with a potato planter though.  To do a planter you just add the slats as you go up, you get plenty of light from the exposed sides and from above.

That said, DeepSea1985 that is an awesome box system, I will have to build one now.  My pallet solution is simply something fast easy and no construction skills required.

[BerserkerPrime]

Very nice DeepSea!  That is very close to the setup that I am using.  Great minds think alike!   

FireToad, as I understand it, you will let the plant come up a bit more then put more dirt down leaving just a little of the plant showing right?  Then keep this up until you have several layers? 

BP

[dhallftworth]

Do you have to keep adding drit to them of you are row planting? I've never seen my grandpa add any dirt, but he was always planting them in pretty good sized rows...

[ModernSurvival]

Do you have to keep adding drit to them of you are row planting? I've never seen my grandpa add any dirt, but he was always planting them in pretty good sized rows...

You don't have to what it does though is increase the yield per plant.  Each time you bury the plat further the buds become roots instead of branches, they spread out and when production time comes they all produce tubers (potatoes). So think about it like a tomato, you could let it grow 2 feet high and cut the top off, it won't need much if any staking and it will produce tomatoes.  But if you steak it up 6 feet high you get more tomatoes.  Rather then steaking the plant upward you are increases the area below the soil and there by increasing yield, make sense?

[dhallftworth]

ahh ok.. that makes sense.. How do you know when it's time to add dirt, or do you just add it every couple weeks?

[firetoad]

This is my first time planting potatoes, but from everything that I have read, you wait until you are maybe two inches taller than the next layer of your stackup.  In my case, once my plants are at 8" (since these are ~6" cedar boards), I will add another box and fill her up.  You want to make sure that you have good loose soil and it can freely drain.  For my soil, I use a mix of sphagnum peat moss, compost, black top soil and some manure.  The mix has a fair amount of sphagnum peat moss to keep the mix loose.  The tators seem to be growing very well for me so far. 

Here is a pic of my tato's today, just days after the picture above...

[Vision]

Firetoad that is a fantastic idea!!
I was hot and heavy looking for a good tractor tire, you should have seen the look on my wife's face when I told her, it's going in the back yard!! (she was not amused) 
These beds fit the bill !!

[flanker]

I went to the local tire shop a they said I could have as many tires as I wanted for free.  I picked two semi truck tires and I plan on planting the seed potatoes in the coming week.  I will post pictures after I plant.  After I picked up the tires it hit I am in a rental these tires have a good surface area and depth great raised beds for free.  Will let everyone know how it turns out.

[A Pawn]

That is really cool DeepSea1985. I've got to remember that one for next season.... +1

 

[DeepSea1985]

Thanks to all for the complements and support. It is amazing how some many of us are on the same track and think alike. I hope to be able to retain and use all the knowledge and ideas you folks contribute as well.................

[flanker]

Here is our tire potatoes.  We had a couple of cold nights so we threw some straw on to keep in as much warmth as possible now it will turn to mulch.  The pink petals are from the crabapple tree which did not like the wind we a couple of days ago.  So far the tire seems to be working well.

[Copyright 1972]

Deepsea, that's a great idea!  We are growing taters for the first time this year, and if my space was any more limited, I would jump on your idea!  We are lucky to have space at grandma's house to plant a second garden in.

Again great idea! +1

[Paine]

Howdy all. I'm new to the forum, SMB, and potato planting and was wondering if I still had time to put potatoes in the soil. I live up here in Western Washington and would love to try this process out. We love 'taters. Any help would be great. Thank you. On a side note, how would a newbie SMB member get one of those cool supporting members brigade banners "stuck" on my profile thingamadingee?

[“Mark”]

Howdy all. I'm new to the forum, SMB, and potato planting and was wondering if I still had time to put potatoes in the soil. I live up here in Western Washington and would love to try this process out. We love 'taters. Any help would be great. Thank you.

I don't see why not? Don't forget that potatoes are a tuber, and the fat part of their roots (the part we eat) is an energy store for the next season. You could plant and get a great harvest next year, one would think.

On a side note, how would a newbie SMB member get one of those cool supporting members brigade banners "stuck" on my profile thingamadingee?

Add the image to your signature. It's done manually.

[cdunlop]

Thanks to Gator on the DIY on posting pictures.........I struggle with technology daily and his posting was most informative. I'll raise an Abita Amber in his honor this weekend at the Jazz Fest..

This is the stacked potato box design I was thinking about. It's made from 6' long cedar fence boards, 2 x 2 for corners strength and galvanized screws. It comes out to be more growing area than a 16" tire. I cut the fence boards at 2 foot length's to minimize waste and it took less than an hour to cut and screw together six of these, not counting the trip to the lumber store. I'm thinking as vines grow I'll stack additional boxes on top and more dirt/compost/straw mixture and see what happens. In a second box not shown we planted Jerusalem Artichokes in same manner.....



On the bottom box the 2 x 2 corner pieces were cut about 2" shorter than height of board. That way the with the upper boxes corner 2 x 2 cut at the height of the boards and attached 2" down it makes upper box lock into place.





The wife is happy it's not old tires and it kinda matches the cedar fence........Time will tell if it's worth while...

That is cool as hell!!!!!  If I could give you a +1, I would.  Very nice!

[pilltender]

Hello,
I'm new here (to the forum) but have been listening for a while.  The potato subject caught my eye because I have a "batch" of potatoes growing, but am concerned.  I LOVE the boxes you built and will add another layer to mine (next year) which should solve my problem.  Here is my problem:  I am doing the square foot gardening system (not the problem yet...) and have a deep box for my potatoes.  I've read that you need to keep the green growth of the potatoes covered with straw to keep the potatoes from being toxic.  Problem is with the above ground garden, the straw keeps falling/being pushed off by the growth of the plants.  Now what?  Thanks in advance to those of you smart people that know what to do!