What is the best way to grow potatos in a small spot?

[loopyloo]

I would love to grow potatos in my garden this year. I have a 3 foot by 3 foot spot all picked out. I looked at a few sites that say I can use old tires and stack them up. Im not sure how I feel about eating food grown in a tire.

What is the best way to get a good yeild of potatos?

 

[Susan Floerchinger]

If you don't like to use old tires, then build a few box frames, you could possibly use card board boxes as well and just make sure both ends are open. Dig a hole and put your potato buds in there, eyes up, mound with dirt. When leaves poke out of the first mound, stack another box frame, and so on until you feel you have enough, each layer should produce potatoes.

 

[Tmann]

I wonder how big your yield will be in a 3x3 spot??

 

[clueless1]

Some varieties of potatoes perform better 'vertically' than others, so it pays to do a bit of research in that respect.

In any case, to get a good yield, the soil needs to be as rich as possible. Rotted manure is as good as it gets but unlike most crops, potatoes will also happily take fairly fresh manure (as long as it's had a few days to rest).

As for using old tyres, it wont cause a problem. The potatoes will not consume any part of the tyres, so you wont end up eating rubber. There is a high chance that hydrocarbons will come off the tyres, but natural microbial activity in the soil will quickly break that down into carbon and water, way before the potatoes get to it.

 

[firelily99]

As clueless1 there are a number of vertically interested potato varieties. Potatoes are fairly durable so you should be able to grow them in any number of structures. Don't be shy about enriching the soil, potatoes love it when you spoil them!

 

[Chuck]

I grow mine in plastic garbage cans with holes drilled in the bottom