growing potatoes in raised beds

[JimWWhite]

Here in the South a lot of people swear by the Redneck Potato gardening method. I've been wanting to try it but just haven't yet. But according to my friend you take 4 or 5 auto tires and put one on the ground that you've dug up a bit and put down some rotted manure, etc. Then you put in 4 or 5 seed potato wedges spaced depending on your tire size. Then you fill the tire up with good dirt and water it. In a couple of weeks or so when the plants start to peek through and are about 2 inches tall you put another tire on and then add enough dirt to fill it up, covering the plants. Keep everything watered because when it gets hot the sun will heat up those old tires and dry out the soil. This is the same thing as hilling the potatoes. Wait until the plants pop up again and repeat. You should be able to do this 4 or 5 times. Keep it well watered and use good loose garden mix for soil. I guess what happens is that the way potatoes grow there will be potatoes at each level in the 'tower' you've built. When the vines start to die back just remove the top tire and put it on the ground next to the tower and harvest the potatoes at that level. Put the dirt you take out in the tire on the ground and start again with new potato seed wedges. Redneck potatoes. They swear by it here. Really.

http://urbanfoodgrower.com/redneck-potato-barrel-planter-using-old-tires

PS: My friend says he keeps his potatoes in the tower until he needs them and then just removes one level at a time.

 

[majorcatfish]

<and yes I am a French model>

PICS!! we want PICS!!

here you go

 

[JimWWhite]

Nice pic, Catfish. Really good catch you have there. Good Eye!

 

[Jared77]

"Uhhhh Bonjour"

 

[Ridgerunner]

Very nice. It's obvious you keep yourself in great physical condition. Yoga? Pilates? It looks like you would be really limber.

Nice use of make-up and hair coloring. I suspect a rear view might show off your better features.

Obviously continental. It looks like no body hair has been removed.

 

[majorcatfish]

yes that photo shoot was a hard one to pull off, had to lose a ton of weight. and not shave...

hair coloring???, that's all natural !!!!!

but when I am not on location, enjoy hanging out with my favorite hoes...

 

[majorcatfish]

heres another question,
now since i will placing the raised beds on soil that i have not put milky spores on and knowing that there are grubs in the soil would it be a good idea put some window screen material down first and add soil on top of that to keep the grubs out?

 

[digitS']

Hoe, Hoe

Grubs & milky spore? There's something I know nothing about. Rainfall during the growing season and maybe soil that doesn't drain real quickly, is my suspicion. I haven't much to compare to . . .

Here is something that the folks in western Washington have to deal with when building raised beds. Give it some thought, it might apply to your garden: building beds & "perched watertables" (click)

Here are a couple of sentences from about half way down the page: "Often the mix is simply thrown down on top of the ground and no attempt is made to incorporate some or all of it with the native soil. When this is done, a perched watertable is created, since water will not move freely across interfaces created by two radically different soils butting up against one another."

Steve