Raised Bed Potatoes

Growing Raised Bed Potatoes
For The Easiest Way To Grow

Raised bed potatoes rank with potato grow bags in producing high quality tubers suitable for the garden show bench. Like potato bins they can be set up over hard surfaces. This no-dig method of growing potatoes saves you the effort of ridging up - and harvesting is easier too.

On this link you'll find lot's more information on potato gardening - from potato varieties to certified seed, chitting tubers to harvesting potatoes and storing, and more on the potato plant...

Advantages of Raised Bed Potatoes

Many of the advantages of growing in potato bags and tubs apply also to raised beds.

Grow an early crop,
Harvest beautiful clean and unblemished 'new' potatoes,
Site raised bed potatoes over garden soil that is unsuitable for a normal crop:-

chalky soils with high ph,
stiff clay soils,
poorly drained areas¹,

Also - grow over hard surfaces - paved yards...
Raised beds warm up quickly,
Like potato grow bags and tubs, raised bed potatoes give you a no-dig growing method that I believe is the easiest of them all,
There's no need for hilling or earthed up ridges either - see below.

You can build raised beds in many shapes and depths, from simple kits available on this link along with good top soil. Note: the polymer kits are well-used at flower shows as they are so simple to set up.

Outline For Potatoes in Raised Bed.

Here's the basic plan:

Build the raised bed and fill with a moisture retentive organic soil mix,
Work well rotted manure or dried bagged manure into the soil mix,
Cover the bed with a dark colored sheet such as black polythene to warm it up,
Plant chitted potato tubers to leave about 1" of soil above the shoots,
Cover the soil with a sheet as above. Alternatively you could use 4 - 8 layers of newspaper or slices of straw bale (you need to make holes in the compact straw for the shoots - loosening up the straw may allow potatoes to form in the straw but³...
Make slits in the sheeting to allow the potato shoots up,
The sheets must serve to ³protect your potato tubers from exposure to light and frost - if they're up before last frost then cover with fleece or cloches - support frames are available for raised beds,
When using newspaper mulch continue to add layers of grass cuttings,
Keep the bed well watered as the plants are growing,
After 60 days with 'early' varieties - about the time the plants flower - you can take a look under the mulch,
'New' potatoes of hen's egg size are easy to harvest - say 2 at a time.

More details of equipment, size and quality are given below.

¹About Siting Raised Bed Potatoes

If your site is water logged you would be well advised to add a 3" layer of grit to the bottom. You don't want to create smelly effluents. But by raising the soil above the water level your bed will draw from the water below when dry and be well drained when wet.

The Mantis Tiller is available in America & Europe from this link.

Hard surfaces such as concrete or paving can be used as a base. A compacted soil may be an ideal site for you - although a better solution is to break it up if you can. Soils containing shallow hard 'iron pans' also make good sites for raised bed potatoes. When siting raised bed potatoes over lawns you can first remove the turf to make garden loam.

Although potatoes can be used together with sheet mulch to control a weedy site I wouldn't suggest siting a raised bed over a weedy site - use sheet mulch alone first until the weeds are gone. The best possible site would be over cultivated garden soil that's had loads of well rotted manure forked in. You can sometimes get alternative green manure products.

You Can Grow 'Early', 'Second Early' and Christmas Potatoes in Raised Beds.

I suggest using the finest tasting 'early' and 'second early' potato varieties - not necessarily the quickest to grow. That's because if you use a light, sterilized, moisture retentive, organic compost your raised bed potatoes will be the cleanest, unblemished, most beautiful tubers you could ever grow.

You might also try those handsome looking potato varieties such a 'Kestrel'.

Raised Beds Are Easily Made.

Raised beds are no-dig, no walk areas. That means you want to keep them narrow enough to reach accross them from one side or the other.

Typical raised beds available to home gardeners may come with 10" or (in the U.K.) lower 6"/15cm high boards. They occupy 1 square yard (1 sq Metre) and are expandable and stackable with link on pieces. Note that joins for the boards may add a small additional size.

For root crops such as potatoes, carrots, parsnips... you would want them to be at least 30 to 45cm high when over hard surfaces. Well prepared beds will enjoy fewer problems, and a good crop that's easy to maintain and harvest will be your reward.

Treat your raised bed potatoes like container grown plants and make sure the soil is kept moist - you need to use a moisture retentive soil mix².

You could lay a seep hose down beneath the raised bed before filling it with soil but that won't make up for a dry soil mix.

Raised Bed Potatoes - ²Soil Mix

To fill an area of 1 square metre 2 units deep (about 30cm) you will need 300 Litres of soil mix.
To fill an area of 1 square yard 2 units deep (20 inches) you will need about 460 dry Quarts of soil mix.

You can use good earth from your own garden or buy in good sterilized top soil, or use a moisture retentive rich organic compost. The last two options are good because they start clean - after that you only need to top up.

Potatoes are a very hungry crop - but don't overdo nitrogen fertilizer.

As a rough guide you could mix your soil 50:50 with garden compost and a good helping of well rotted manure. Dried and bagged manure will do and it is easy to handle. It's best to make the bed a few months before planting.

Indeed you should probably add soil ammendments to your mix at the outset. You can get raised bed booster packs and organic fertilizers by following this link.

Remember that you only have to build the bed once. In subsequent years you will add organic fertilizers and manure, and organic mulches to the surface. Your raised bed can be a no-dig area.

Turn a Vacant Weedy Plot into a Garden with Potatoes.

Potatoes are traditionally used to break in new ground as a first crop. This works well because they compete strongly with weeds - they are hungry feeders, and cast heavy shade.

After you've grown potatoes on weedy ground it will be transformed. The weeds will be weakened, and you'll have had 2 opportunities to remove them yourself - at planting, and harvesting. That would be 3 opportunities if you were cultivating the soil properly. A potato crop also seems to leave the soil in good condition - I can attribute some of that to the manure added previously, but the growing crop plants also do something good.

Potatoes On Top Of Weeds

Cut the weeds down to the ground in the fall and leave them lying on the ground,

Let's assume your soil is soft enough to dig with a trowel,
If you can loosen it up with a fork and cultivator so much the better,
If you can put a layer of manure on the surface so much the better - the dead weed tops and weed roots will add soil nutrients,
Let's assume that you want to garden organically and don't have the time or energy to pick all the weeds out,

Plant your chitted seed potatoes into holes along your row,
Cover the row with a sheet mulch fabric that excludes light,
Alternatively lay down a thick layer of newspapers and cover with grass cuttings and weed tops leaving a hole for the potato shoots as described for raised bed potatoes above,
The potato leaf cover and mulch should bring the end of your weedy site,
If you want a good crop, water to prevent the soil from dying,
Harvest your spuds from under the mulch and rejoice in having reclaimed part of your garden for growing future crops and flowers.

With a small weedy patch you might try the raised bed potatoes method described above to grow directly on top of the cut weeds.

Check these links.

Next > Harvesting and Storing Potatoes - from new potatoes to maincrop, discover when to harvest, reduce disease in storage & find helpful tools & accessories.

The Garden Seat - books by experts to help you grow potatoes

Wouldn't it be nice to sit down and watch your soil being turned over ready for planting. I can't quite manage that but the cultivating tool on this link is the next best thing for making easy work of it - then you'll have more time.