Potato Towers

     This spring I decided to try a new potato growing method called potato towers. You make a round cage out of wire, run straw on the outside and fill the middle with dirt. You lay down 1 ft. of dirt, a round of potato seed, 1 ft. of dirt- etc. until full.



 

 

     The potatoes grow out sides through the straw, and in the fall you destroy the whole tower and get 3x the potatoes per square foot you would of putting them in the ground, without all that nasty digging business, which I abhor.  In the very top I put a zucchini plant to maximize my "pounds of produce per square foot" and because you want something that likes lots of water and will die before you want to harvest your potatoes. Plus chocolate zucchini cake.

 

     My only change and recommendation is to run a 4 ft. section of perforated field tile (capped on the bottom) through the middle for super easy watering and maxing out the benefit (potatoes per gallon) of the water you are using. They are hard to water without going way overboard to get the sides soaked. Unfortunately I thought this after we set them up fully, and by popular vote they were not tore apart and rebuilt. I get a solid F on water conservation with this design (which is not mine at all by the way, Google 'plant towers' for tons of info).

 

 

     Here is one complete, with the second cage started and Zak being my ever faithful assistant. David of course believes he should get some credit since he did most the dirt hauling from the truck to the cages, but I don't see him in any photos and therefore cannot fully prove he exists. 

     Milo also assisted, in his usual fashion by digging a hole nearby and remaining fascinated by it for the remainder of the day.

     And then here is a totally gratuitous picture of Harley and Possum playing on the bed because they are horrifically cute and I can't find my pictures of my successful and now-potato-laden towers and will have to take another one tomorrow. Or next month since it took me that long to write this blog post on the subject (Blah! Shearing Season Madness!)   

     Oh, and lets have Faithy too, because you need epic cuteness to make up for lacking a decent "after" photo where one should clearly exist. Plus we can't have everyone else and lack Faithy, that is madness beyond the scope of Shearing Season blame.

     (This photo was to capture her "innocent" face while sitting in the midst of destroyed tissue that she is totally "innocent" of destroying.)