Potato Pen

This year I'm going to try making a giant box of potatoes. It'll be about 288 square feet of potatoes and straw once it's filled. A very good friend of ours gave us about 20 sheets of metal roofing a few years ago and I turned 4 sheets of it into a box last year to keep the Chicken Mafia, Rabbit Gang, Westside Ducks, Street Cats, and Barnyard Dogs out of the veggies. This year I've got 12 blueberry bushes (I got 10 just this year when I traded 2 male geese for them), 80+ raspberry bushes, 3 rhubarb plants from the pioneer days (they came over on a covered wagon!), 5 upcycled tires filled with pickling cucumbers, and I'll be planting more veggies in the weeks to come. 

With all the plants needing protection I've decided to just fence in the backyard/garden area but still build the box, this time to house the potatoes. I chose to use a box so that the straw won't spread with the wind. I can't chance uncovering potatoes too early, they'll turn green and the green part of a potato is actually toxic. Also, at $6.99 pre-tax per bale it isn't cheap. The layer you see in the photo took 1 whole bale and is maybe 3" deep. The panels are about  12' long and 3' tall and I'll be filling it to about the 2' mark. I estimate that'll take at least $60 so these babies better produce at least 30lbs to make it cost effective!

The Layout

My Dear Husband borrowed a tractor and tilled the garden for me last weekend and with no rain I was able to get the straw on before the soil compacted again. 

Tip: if you don't have plastic or straw and your yard isn't as windy as mine, you can lay cardboard over the soil so that rain doesn't compact it before you get a chance to plant. That will also work as a compostable weed barrier!

I regretfully did not get a photo of the soaker hose layout before I added the straw because I was in a hurry. It had been threatening to rain, the DH had just gotten home and I had yet to build a macaroni salad to go with the Ling Cod DH had caught and was planning to cook for dinner. Also, the Chicken Mafia had not noticed the garden construction yet and I failed to submit my application of protection ahead of time. Do you know what a Chicken Mafia will do to anything you're building outside if you don't secure protection from them?? They will inspect it top to bottom and then most likely tear it down and spread the remains like ashes from their fiery temper. It's true.

Anyway, I used 50 feet of 1/2" soaker hose ($20 at my local MalWart) in an 'S' pattern, staking down the rounded bends with 'U' shaped stakes, leaving the hose connection end outside of the box for easy hookup to the main hose. I then covered it with 1 bale of straw.

The Potatoes

Red Norland

I cut some Red Norland seed potatoes into sets today. A set is about an inch of potato with at least 2 eyes on it. You'll want to cut them a few days before you plant them so that the cutside has a chance to dry up. This will give it a better shot at not rotting when you place it in the ground. I'm also going to be planting our favorite type of potato, the Yellow Finn. They taste like buttah! Thin skins, yellowy flesh, great for frying, deep frying, mashing... we use them for everything. They seem to have the most flavor of all the types I've tried but I admit, I haven't tried a whole lot. I sort of stopped when we discovered these!

The Plan

To grow 288 square feet of big darn taters! I read a little about fertilizers and bone meal seemed to be the #1 thing to get a great sized tuber. Do you think I could find any?? No! Everyone seemed to be out. Instead I tossed a little Epsom Salt on the straw thinking that the rain would carry it into the soil. It's raining now, I'm guessing that's happening although I could go lick a piece of straw to find out...

I digress. 

When the sets are ready to plant, I'll just clear a little space under the straw and somewhat snug each piece into the earth a little and cover it back up with straw, making sure to plant them about 12-15" apart and in the middle of the rows created by the soaker hose. As the plants get about 8" tall, I'll cover them with more straw, repeating until they're at the 2' mark.

Why Soaker Hose?

You don't have to use soaker hose, I never have before, but by using it I will be able to water the taters with less effort and the straw shouldn't spread away like it could if I were to spray the top with a hose. My hope is to get a timer and just water them for a few minutes every morning at about 7am. 

Last year I tried using barrels but the material stayed too wet and I think the pine shavings I used created too much Nitrogen and I got poor results. 

Have you tried or heard of any other unusual methods? 

Do you have any tips for potato newbs?