Chicken wire Potato "Barrels"

Comment

Comment by Kati on March 6, 2009 at 2:01pm

Hey Matt, it worked VERY well! My problem was staying on top of piling more soil around the plant, and then running out of soil at all. What I DON'T have pictured here is the bit of plastic drop-cloth I gathered around the base of the set-up to keep moisture in. I didn't want the water all running out the bottom, and the potatoes not getting any of it. Just a strip of old drop-cloth, gathered all the way around both "barrels" and tucked as securely as I could make it between the barrels in back.

Anyway, these 2 barrels, filled only half-way, gave me 16 potatoes altogether. From the size of both my hands fisted and held together, on down to "seed" potatoes. Most were moderately sized, about one hand, fisted. I plan to add a third "barrel" this next summer, and the hubby's going to haul in a load of top-soil just for us (hopefully) to use in another planter bed AND my potato barrels. Also got some compost that may not be fully composted, but should be decent "mulch" for the potatoes this coming year. Oh, and the barrel on the right is a little bit bigger than the one on the left. I prefered that one, if just for the fact that I didn't get so scratched up when I added more soil because there was more space INSIDE the barrel. That one also seemed to give me the bigger potatoes, though not in a drastically different way.

And when time comes, a good pair of gardening gloves, and some strong arms are all that's needed to harvest. Just carefully, firmly grip the wire barrel, and pull UP. The dirt spills out the bottom along with the potatoes, and pawing through to remove the potatoes before piling the dirt into a handy container for reuse next year was all that was needed for clean-up. (That, and tossing the old newspaper at the bottom into the compost bin.)

Comment by Matt Mayer on March 5, 2009 at 3:29pm

How did this work out for you?