Pinterest Inspired: World’s Smallest Potato Patch

I enjoy gardening to a degree… meaning that if it is easy and has good results – I’m all about it!  But gardening on our property is not an easy thing to do.  We’re on the side of a hill and the ground is clay covered stones.  Digging a 3 inch deep hole can take you five minutes!  (Or the use of the mattock…) 

So I’ve taken a keen interest in the container and raised bed gardening I’ve found on Pinterest.  Several have been on how to raise potatoes in a cage using straw. 

When my potato basket was moved into a closet and forgotten, the little potatoes decided to grow.  That’s when I decided to give cage potatoes a try.  I had the roll of fence and some potting soil to start them, all I needed was the straw.

Himself cut the fence for me and formed it up to a cage.

He spread a couple of bags of soil and raked them level.

I told you those potatoes had been busy! 

They were starting to grow leaves!

He covered them with a bit of dirt to get them started.

And then he put the cage over the mound.

Now it was time to add the straw.  Isn’t that the tiniest straw bale you’ve ever seen?  I’m not happy with Lowe’s for selling that as a “bale”.  That little half bale cost a full bale price.  Next time I’m heading over to the Co-Op! 

We covered the potatoes with about 6 inches of straw and gave it a good watering. 

Now I’m supposed to keep it watered and add more straw every time the plants grow about 6 inches above the straw layer.  “They” say doing this will give you baby potatoes you can just reach in and pull out. 

We’ll see… 

But it’s going to be a fun experiment!

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