I planted potatoes in a rubbermaid box. I put a couple inches of dirt and planted in that and have been mounding it with hay and chopped up leaves. Yesterday while I was digging around in there I found some big ones but they were in the dirt. I thought the more you mounded them up, the more potatoes would grow (and they would be growing in the leaves and hay). Do they just like dirt???

Usually potatoes are grown in a soil medium. Most of the time, the purpose of mounding with a mulch like leaves, hay or straw is to stop the light from reaching the soil, which can turn the top most potatoes green and not safe to eat.

Mounding with soil provides the same result, plus provides extra space for new spuds to develop.

I've read places articles on the internet where they explain how it can be grown in straw. The straw needs to stay moist and alot of it is required. Just do a search on Google "growing potatoes in straw".

I usually mound mine with good soil this first time and then the second time apply a thick straw mulch.

I confirmed my old observation this year...

If you start the taters in soil, they all form in soil.

I did get them to grow in straw only one year, but they have to be planted on top of a a few inches of straw first.

When I look at the people who do the tall vertical ways, like fencing wrapped wire...I scratch my head. I may do one next year just to see if I start in straw they'll keep making new ones in straw way far up.

(If I'm babbling, and I suspect I am...I've done way too much computer admin work today...)

I've had the best luck w/ potatoes in large pots filled w/ compost. I had run out of garden space one year and saw the some big empty pots in my garage and thought 'why not'. It worked great and I didn't have volunteer potato plants popping up forever after like I've had w/ garden grown ones. It was also incredibly easy to just dump out a pot at a time when it was time to harvest. And, like it was stated before, I think all that mulch on top is for keeping out the sunlight to prevent them from turning green.

Thanks guys. I have heard of people growing them in old stacked up tires so I thought it would work this way too. Now I know I need to try something different for next year.

This year I did what some people on this forum recommended (try to search for potato posts).

I tossed the potatoes on the ground and covered with old hay.

I keep covering them as they grow...and I checked after reading your question..there ARE potatoes in there.

Not sure how many though.

Most of the web articles I read recommend pushing in the potato in soil until it's almost covered and then cover lightly with straw, keep adding straw as they grow. Keep star humid.

I'll try this next year, looks like a good method for early potatoes, which I like to dig out potatoes throughout the season.

read this old thread about different potato planting methods.

Old potato thread

Alaskan, that's what I thought would happen but....it's not. Oh well. There's always next year to experiment!

quote:

If you start the taters in soil, they all form in soil.

That's what I experienced this spring as well. I, too, had run out of garden space but wanted to grow potatoes. Planted them in cardboard boxes and covered each seed potato with about 6 inches of dirt. Mulched with leaves after that as they grew. I did get some potatoes but they only grew in that 6 inches of soil. There were none above the soil line.

I just planted fall potatoes and they are in the garden proper, planted in a little trench and will be hilled with garden soil as they grow.

I would be interested to hear how your spuds turn out alaskan. Who knows? Next spring I may run short on space again and will be looking for a new way to grow them.