And the winner for Most Food per Foot is? The potato bin!
Or so I’ve read, and by the end of the year I’ll see if it’s true. Building and planting a potato bin is one of my garden experiments this year. (Every year I try a few new things; to see what works for me and what doesn’t and build my skill set.)
The concept:
Plant potatoes inside of a wooden frame. Start with boards closing off only the bottom of the frame. As the potatoes grow, add more soil around the growing stalk. The stalk will grow taller on top, and the part of the stalk now in contact with soil sprouts roots that grow extra potatoes.
Keep adding boards and soil throughout the season. If you wish, you can even take off boards at the bottom, reach in, and nab some of the bigger potatoes while the top of the plant and the younger potatoes continue to grow. I’ve read of people getting 24 lbs of potatoes from a single plant by this method. (And everything on the internet is true, Right?)
My potato bin attempt:
I put my potato bin inside my raised bed garden, for multiple reasons: It can be at least partially watered by the drip irrigation system. (That’s the brown hoses running over the soil surface inside the box.) That was where I had pre-loosened, good quality soil for the original planting.
I haven’t planted potatoes in the raised beds before, and I’ve read you get much more blight if potatoes use the same ground each year. As a bonus I planted peas all around the exterior of the box so they can use the frame as a climbing surface.
Does looking at my box make you never want to hire me as a carpenter? Good thinking; as a carpenter I’m a Great biologist. Also, the box is made out of low-grade scrap lumber from packing materials. I expect it to be a one-year construction, and all it has to do is hold dirt. The size, 32” to a side, was determined by the scrap I had. Given that size I elected to plant three potato plants in this box.
Two varieties:
There are two varieties; all my local garden center had with roughly the same growth season. I went for later season varieties, as they’re supposed to keep making additional potatoes for as long as they grow. Once the sprouts come up I’ll mulch well on top with straw.
On the easiest to reach side, I nailed on the boards but left enough nail head sticking out for convenient removal, should I wish to raid some new potatoes before the entire plant’s done.
Pros:
This approach promises to produce a very large quantity of food in a very small footprint. It’s also a food source that stays viable for quite a while, first in the soil then in cool dark storage. People who have a lot of concerns about food raiders also favor potatoes because they’re very inconvenient to steal until they’re dug up, and some variety/environment combos allow leaving the taters in the soil for months. That doesn’t work well here (I tried; they rotted) and I don’t think such scenarios are very likely, so I can’t claim that particular idea held much sway with me.
Cons:
Labor and potentially cost intensive, in building the boxes and adding new good soil all summer. I don’t expect the drip irrigation to be sufficient for the kind of growth I’m hoping for; I expect to have to water the heck out of these.
EDITED TO ADD:
Potato Bin: What Went Wrong Last Year? What Are We Doing To Improve Our Crop?