Homestead forum diaspora

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-grow-100-pounds-of-pota-81760

I was wondering the same thing,  I would like to try it.

we are going to try it this year with a twist, gonna use old tires, just stack them up as needed.  We used old tires for raised beds and they work great.  The tire holds a little water in the sidewall and stays moist longer on the hot dry days. 

I have a problem with the possible toxiciy of old tires...but I have lots of used lumber stacked...The nice thing about either option is it won't take up space in my garden...it can be a 'decoration' where ever I want...I was thinking I could put it right on sod, cover the sod with several layers of newspaper, then place soil and compost and then potatoe eyes...I like how the bottom board can be unscrewed and a person can reach in an harvest...without hurting the plant...

I tried somthing like this.  I used half of a 55 gal plastic drum.  I started with a layer of sand, layer of wet newspaper, layer of sod (grass side down, layer of soil/compost/aged manure with potatoes.  Whenever the shoots would break soil, I would cover them up with more soil/compost.  I can't say how much I yeilded, but I was impressed.  I didn't have any huge potatoes, most were smallish, golf ball to chicken egg in size.

I need to try growing potatoes with a drum. I have already made one water barrel but I need more.

We tried the 55 gal drum thing with old trash cans. We drilled plenty of drainage holes in them and did a compost/hay/leaves mixture as we added stuff. The plants came up great, but we got no potatoes

Did the same as Sheri,  used new trash cans, drilled holes on the bottom, filled wtih soil at they came up.  Got a moderate amount of potatoes.  Used 2 plants per can. 

I've seen it done with tires and barrels that way. Good results were had.

I have done it with tyres as well. Nice yield but all smallish in size............

We are going bend 16 foot cattle pannels into a circle and fill them with dirt and straw,  as the plants grow up.  Then we'll kick them over and collect potatoes.

In theory.

The towers are our latest scheme to defeat the ants that destroyed our last two potatoe crops.