All the potatoes are now harvested. Not a bumper crop, but plenty to keep Steve and I in potatoes for a month or more.
I don't see a need to raise the dirt level to 2 feet. I think 18" is ample. We didn't see any potatoes over 18", so why waste the dirt? Potatoes are delicious, but quantity should not be the reason for the tower.
For us, the tower gives us the opportunity for potatoes in a confined space and let's us distribute the left over dirt around the garden. So hopefully, that translates into a good practice. We'll reuse the towers next year - start later - and use new compost/dirt so this area is not "infected."
That's it. Great on the BBQ or roasted in the oven. We even make french fries with the "chip" version. Overall, love the look of the plants - so we'll be doing this again next year. :)
Potato plants are starting to fall over. When they die back - we'll let them sit for two weeks and then start digging.
We're hoping for more from the other towers. We did make a fabulous 4th of July potato salad, though. So we're good.
One tower down, 4 more to go!
6/19/11Potato flowers make their debut and more buds.
6/12/11
We're decorating the garden. The potato plants are a great ornamental plant. Can't wait for them to flowers.
Digging through to remove slugs who make the leaves a midnight meal is going well, but it's really a getting to be a jungle. Luckily, watering is a breeze with the bamboo!
6/4/11:Now we're talking. The plants have all exceeded the tops of the towers. The stalks are thick and strong.
Attended the Mother Earth News fair in Puyallup this weekend and picked up Worm Tea from Sequim Prairie Star. It's made from organic worm castings. I'm going to use it to mist the potatoes, tomatoes, beans, cukes, squash and peppers each morning.
The tea is like a mist humus, if that makes sense and is known to increase plant growth and suppress harmful bacteria, fungi and plant pathogens. We can use all the help we can get from bacteria and fungi with our cooler, moist conditions. It's not a nitrogen, but more of facilitator helping the plant uptake more efficiently. 
5/28/11: Dirt level in all towers is now 2 ft, so I'm just going to let them grow now.The Purple Majesty plants are now over the top!
5/20/11: We keep adding dirt as the plants grow, but it's tricky at times. A few of the plants are way ahead of others in the tower and so keeping the stalks all covered is a challenge.First two photo show the Dark Red Norland and Purple Majesty plants on 5/20. The dirt level is now at about 2 feet. These two are early season (70-90 days) varieties, so maybe that's why they are so far ahead of the rest.
TheYukon Gold and Chieftan Reds lag behind the top two, but are now filling out and up. They are mid-season (90-110 days).
Finally, the Yellow Finn are slower starting -
also mid-season varieties.
5/7/11
Right top, Purple Majesty; right 2nd photo, Dark Red Norlands.
The Norlands and Purples are on a growing spurt. they are both early potatoes. The Norlands are growing at about the same rate, so adding fill is simple, just trying to keep up with the growth.
The Purples are tougher because some are very tall and some very short, so adding dirt to cover the stems is more tricky, but we're getting it done.
Have switched to potting soil for it's lighter consistency now that we have created a good base for root development.
The Chieftans and Yukon Golds have emerged, but are just getting started. We were worried about the Yellow Finn, but the first leaves emerged today.
Rain continues - so we are balancing covering the towers with clear plastic and letting them out for rain and direct light. I think the cover is not affecting them at this point. Ambient light is always filtering through the bamboo, along with the air flow.
So far - things are looking really good.
4/25/11Red Norlands and Purple Majesty towers are coming alive.
The Yukon Gold and Chieftan Red's are touch breaking out of the soil, but the Yellow Finn's are below the surface still. I poked around and see buds, but not much growth yet.
When I planted, the Yellow Finns barely were showing eyes, where the Norlands and Purples were well developed.
Added my first layer of dirt to Norlands and Purples. Now we just need better weather, eh?
4/16/11First potato leaves are visible today on the Norland Reds, Purple Majesty and the Yukon Gold (barely). The heavy rain fall has contined so we've been using our trashbag collection system almost daily, but not continuously. We've been able to catch some sun breaks and breezy days. Tonight it will be freezing (32 or lower). The clouds have mostly moved out and the sun is shining. We're expected the colder nights for the coming week. I plan to cover them at night to protect them from the frost.
3/31/11
The seeds are about 6 inches above ground because we added organic materials (leave mold) and compost and then the seeds. They are moist but not drenched. Yea!
It's planting day! All the towers are built and staked. We prepared the ground underneath by forking it over and adding worms, dirt and compost to build a base. Finally we added the potatoes. Tower #1: Dark Red Norlands, early season, great for potato salad (yumyum) and steaming.
Tower #2: Chieftan Red, mid-season, great for french fries.
Tower #3: Yellow Finn, mid-season, buttery yum yum.
Tower #4: Yukon Gold, early season, great smelling potato, love them pan fried.
Tower #5: Purple Majesty, freakishly high in antioxidants, this is purple through and through.
3/12/11I've read articles about "trash can" potato towers; I've seen plastic potato towers for sale at the nursery and because I have no space - I'm interested. Would this work for my garden?
Last year we planted a small area with potatoes and loved eating them freshly grown, but we don't have enough space to rotate potatoes as recommended to prevent disease - so potato towers sound like a great alternative.
Naturally, I read everything I could find on the internet and found mixed reviews. There are so many different methods: trash cans, plastic garbage bags, chicken wire, wooded structures - and one design and method that applied to me, bamboo towers.
I followed the article at Sunset magazine: http://www.blogger.com/goog_1212190810
According to the Sunset magazine article, "The plant grows and its stem lengthens, as do the underground stolons from which the tubers grow. Give the stem more height to grow and it will, increasing the space for stolons and thus tubers."
But the results were less than grand. In this case, once the potatoes were planted, straw - not dirt was used to cover the stolons.
I read other articles where dirt was used to cover the stolons, but still no impressive yield of potatoes. So is this great idea a bust? I read on.
Turns out that how soon you cover the growing stems may affect the stolons ability to produce tubers.
So this is my plan:
- Use a similar bamboo structure (18" diameter x 3' height) as shown in the Sunset magazine article. I believe the bamboo will provide ambient light to the bottom of the tower for the potatoes beginning growth and prevent collection of too much water (did you know it rains a lot here?). I too purchased reed/bamboo fencing in the garden section, and to give it structure, I selected a GroTall double plant support.
- Use dirt/compost to cover the plant as the stem lengthens, not allowing the plant to exceed a height of 5" above the soil line, until it's closer to the surface. If I want 2 feet of potatoes, then I need to continue to apply dirt to at least this level. Why five inches? Because Ciscoe says so. Ciscoe is our regional gardening expert.
- "Will the bamboo hold in the dirt?" my hubby asks. I think so, but just in case, we'll get some straw to pad the sides where necessary.
Built the first tower today! My local nursery guy says to plant by the end of March, so we're scheduling March 27-28.
