Potatoes in raised beds

[21up]

Hi i would like to do this as i am going to go all raised beds , do not realy want to leave them in the same place.
unless i have to ,but was wondering how do people manage spuds in beds 8x4 ,i can use 2 or 3 beds but will not get many spuds in.
oNLY GET 2 ROWS AT A PUSH IN EACH BED any ideas on this please

[Nicos]

Hi i would like to do this as i am going to go all raised beds , do not realy want to leave them in the same place.
unless i have to ,but was wondering how do people manage spuds in beds 8x4 ,i can use 2 or 3 beds but will not get many spuds in.
oNLY GET 2 ROWS AT A PUSH IN EACH BED any ideas on this please

Someone needs to explain my idea better...

but- you know how you have towers of spuds?
Plant- as soon as you see the leaves , build another edge and top up with soil..and continue until they are say 3ft high.
You'd get 8 lots of 2x2 towers in that space..and many more spouds.
You could open up one at at time to access/crop them.

[Nicos]

like this....

[Snadger]

like this....

The downside of this is you will get lots of green potatoes that are near the edge.

[Penellype]

You could always do it this way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HfIHK7vUYU

[Nicos]

The downside of this is you will get lots of green potatoes that are near the edge.

Maybe wrap hessian around it???....black plastic maybe?

[sunshinekitty]

The downside of this is you will get lots of green potatoes that are near the edge.

why not make the potato towers have wider diameter instead; if greening is an issue with spuds near edges.

[sunshinekitty]

also a raised bed like in method six on this web page might helpful.
7 Ways to Plant Potatoes
the nothing stopping from doing this with 4ftx8ft dimensions.
Depending on variety of spud spacing can be as small as 1ftx1ft square per plant or large as 2ftx2ft per plant;which gives you as many as 32 plants per bed or as few 16 plants.
You can have bed as little as 1ft above soil level to as high 4ft or more if frame strong enough hold soil in.

[Nicos]

I like the idea of wood from pallets!

[rary]

When growing in raised beds plant the potatoes deeper and closer together, you dont have to stick to the recommended spacing of potatoes, as you dont walk over the soil, and if you can purchase a potatoe fork for lifting them

[datz]

I grow spuds in 1m x 2m raised beds. 18 seed potatoes in 3 rows 35cm between each individual one. I hoe a small trench and fill with comfrey and nettle leaves and plant the spuds on this, fill back over. I have to temporarily remove some of the soil into a wheelbarrow as space gets a bit cramped. I've had good results with this method for the last three years.

[longpig]

datz -- do you earth them up at all?

[datz]

Hi longpig, I earth up a bit, not as much if I wasn't in such a restricted place. I usually do a bit of a comfrey mulch as well during the season.

[datz]

Heres a pic, showing the bed slightly earthed up!