Potato Box Bounty

This year we decided to grow our own organic potatoes. Knowing our soil was not the best and opting to grow the rest of our veggies in straw bales, we built a potato box!

I started with a couple rows of untreated 2×6 boards attached to 2×4 posts and started my seed potatoes in some fresh garden soil mixed with a little compost. Once the baby plants were sprouted I knew we were in for a good haul.

I let the plants get to about 10 inches tall before back filling the plants and adding more boards to build up the sides of the box. I used mostly straw to fill the box at this point, adding soil to make sure no light was getting to the covered parts of the plants. I left a few inches of the plant tops exposed out of the soil so they could continue their journey, hopefully making more potatoes!

Now that frost has come and plants and dying back I was excited to dig for gold. It was very simple to place a tarp in front of the box and remove boards as I went through the soil. Luckily the straw made it pretty easy to remove the layers to uncover the potatoes.

I’m pretty happy with this method and will definitely be using the box again next year. I will also show you how I prepared the seed potatoes next year so stay tuned. Happy harvest everyone!

-MaryLaura