Money Matters

The other day I was chatting with my friend Jon. He was telling me about the Urban Gardening that he has been working on and I started doing some research for a good way to do potatoes. I came across a potato tower design that seemed like it would work rather well. One benefit to this system is it does not take up much room (About as much as a garbage can) and can produce very large yields.

To start out with, some material needs to be used to make a round "Cage". You can use chicken wire, but if you can get your hands on something like stiff plastic webbing, it will be easier on your hands later on. To make the container, form the "cage" around a round garbage can or just free shape it about that size (33 Gallon or so). Now, you will see why you want to use a softer material, or at least round out the edges: Easiest way to close the form is to use zip-ties. These are also easy to cut apart when you go to harvest. Just place a zip-tie about every 3-4 inches up the height of the cage till you are at the top.

Now: Find a place for your cage while your potatoes grow. Either on a cement pad, or get a 3'x3' square plywood platform for it to sit on. This will make it easy to sift through the yield when harvesting comes around, and also helps prevent other bugs from working their way up from the ground into your nice fertile compost/soil.

The easiest way to line the bottom layer is to use newspaper. If you don't get the paper, go and grab one. It really will make this easy and they are already folded and will give you a bit of a guide to go by for height.

Line the edge of the inside of the cage with just one layer high (folded in half) of newspaper. Probably 4-8 pages thick. Now fill up to 1" from the top of the news paper full of soft sandy soil, and/or compost. Plant your potatoes in this layer. Water well and wait for them to grow.

When the potatoes have about 6-8" of green, it will be time to build your tower up another level. Using the 1" space you gave yourself when filling with soil, add another row of newspaper 7-9" tall. again: fill up with dirt until there is only 1 - 2" of greens showing from your potato plants. This will encourage your potato plants to turn everything below the soil into more root structure, which in turn will produce more potatoes.

Continue this process, up to about 36" tall. Make sure to continue using soft/supple soil. Do not use clay laden soil, as when this compacts, it will inhibit the growth of the potatoes.

Now: Just keep your plant happy until after it flowers. When the plant finally starts to die back in the early fall, chop the tops into the compost and remove the sip ties from the cage. Everything should pile nicely onto your platform so you can easily gather your harvest.

Enjoy!