How To Grow Potatoes......Maybe

Underneath here are potatoes growing....

 

 

 

I see ideas on Facebook and Pinterest and think...."Hey, I can do that.   And I bet I can do it cheaper, too."   Pretty sure that my experimental impulsive (compulsive) nature is not inherited from my Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.   Maybe it's an Aquarian thing.

 

The "how to" was to plant potatoes above ground on a section of lawn.   Lay down layers of newspaper, lay out your potatoes and cover with straw, some peat moss and some soil and in the fall you'll have lots of potatoes to dig up.

 

Loved the idea, but not the idea of spending money on extra supplies.   I had on hand newspapers, golden yukons that had started to sprout leftover from last fall in my garage, straw - from the attempted straw bail gardening last year, compost, and sections of grass from increasing my garden out front.   Maybe this will work? 

 

 
This is my second summer in this home.  My landlord is allowing me to make improvements to the property.   Just to let you know what I've been working with, to show how far it's actually come, this picture is of the back garden just COVERED in ivy.   After moving in August I spent the rest of the summer just trying to get rid of the ivy.   It was EVERYWHERE. 

Last summer all the grass clippings, leaves, and straw either went into the compost bin or to mulch down in the garden.  This picture looks a little messy but it was after I started moving things around this Spring to get things ready to plant.  All of the leaves, mulch and straw are going to go on top of the potatoes.

I cleared out the back area by moving aside all the leaves, straw and mulch.   Set down multiple layers of newspaper and set all the sprouting yukons out.   (Can't believe we didn't eat all of our Yukon Golds last year!)   I then raked all the leaves, straw and mulch on top and covered it with the clumps of grass that had been taken out of the front gardens.   I have more garden expanding to do, so more clumps will be put on top of this pile. There are some onions left in the garage that might get tossed in the mix too.  We'll see if this works!