3 x 3 foot potato tower frame. 4 feet high.
May 3, 2009
May 9, 2009. Tower and 8 x 8 raised bed filled with composted soil.
Not exactly the blueprint we followed.
May 17, 2009. The approximate planting date (may have been a day or two earlier).
June 7, 2009. First sign of growth about 3 weeks after planting seed potatoes.
June 7, 2009. Red Norland potato plant.
June 14, 2009. A month after planting.
June 14, 2009. We used an old window to create a mini-greenhouse for the first week or so.
June 27, 2009. A little over 5 weeks since planting.
June 27, 2009. Approximately 40 days of growth (half of that below ground).
July 4, 2009. The potatoes were planted around mid-May.
July 4, 2009. Adding second level.
Adding 2nd level 10-inch planks.
July 4, 2009. About 7 weeks since planting.
Adding soil to 2nd level of potato tower. The 1st level of soil was nearly 100% compost. All the other levels consist of a mixture of peat, compost, top soil and lime.
Bedraggled-looking plants after adding soil to 2nd level and watering thoroughly. Several stems got cracked off after adding soil.
July 5, 2009. The day after adding second level, the plants look great.
July 9, 2009.
July 11, 2009.
July 18, 2009. Two months after planting, the 2nd level is a jungle.
July 18, 2009. The first blooms appear two months after planting.
July 18, 2009.
July 21, 2009. Adding the 3rd level.
The stems were trimmed for the 3rd level to make room for potatoes to grow (it was very crowded). Not sure if trimming was a good idea.
July 24, 2009. The 3rd level.
August 5, 2009.
August 10, 2009. The 4th level is added (40 inches high).
Potato tower 40 inches high, ready to test-harvest a few tadders from the 1st level.
Removing 1st-level plank 3 months after planting.
Ta-da!
Red potato on 1st level of tower.
Maybe 6 inches of soil dug out.
Digging out a potato.
Packing the soil back in.
August 17, 2009.
The first batch of young potatoes.
September 21, 2009. Four months after planting. Several heavy rain storms break down and snapped off several plants.
October 4, 2009. The second harvest from the 1st level.
Prying plank apart (some of the cheap screws snapped off in the wood).
Looking good.
October 4, 2009. Second harvesting. The plants on top of have been dying off or about a month.
October 4, 2009. Second harvest of larger potatoes.
October 7, 2009. All the potato plants are pretty much dead now, almost 5 months after planting.
October 7, 2009. "Harvesting" from the second level...
Not one single potato above the first level. See "Potatoes (2009)" for photos of the full harvest.
Photo borrowed from: http://onestraw.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/tech/
The end is nigh.
The end.
