Covering Potatoes

milaneyjane wrote:From what I have read on potato towers, you don't want it to get taller than 4 inches above the soil.

4-6 inches This is SFG-'closies' is good enough

Aha! Thanks Boffer. I've been trying to be very careful about not covering leaves. No more!

me too...thanks for the info!

I have been keeping a lot of photos of my potato box as it has developed, would it help anyone if I posted them?

Megan wrote:I have been keeping a lot of photos of my potato box as it has developed, would it help anyone if I posted them?

Absolutely!

Chopper wrote:

Megan wrote:I have been keeping a lot of photos of my potato box as it has developed, would it help anyone if I posted them?

Absolutely!

Okay, you asked for it! Just keep in mind I am a noob.

First shot of my potato box, this is a test fit before I started digging down. It is a 1x4.


Dug out as deep as I could get it... which is about 16-18" total. Just beneath this is some serious hard pan red clay. Getting down even that deep took me quite a while, I was measuring my victories in 1/2" here and there towards the bottom.

The stuff I dug out, I shared out between the two beds, mixed up with MM as best as I could, and reserved 3 big pails for backfilling. Not enough, as it turned out.

Those are my 4 seed potatoes there on the lower left. They are Kennebecs.



I put a teensy bit of sterilized manure in the bottom. I was afraid to put more because I read somewhere you don't want the strength of the plant to go too much into the greens.


There's a hole in the bucket! (After I pulled up sod.) Plus some nice rocks I found while digging.


Hole plugged, more or less.


Another shot.


First shoots.


Coming up. (There is already a little backfill here, not intended but it just eroded down.)


First cover, 5/13.


Second cover, 5/16.


Third cover, started 5/20. Very low on MM, so used straw for most of it.


Third cover, finished (covered up with MM), 5/20.


Today (5/24). I dug down to find the baby.

Nice potato bed