Dear Farmer Dill,
Thanks for your prompt reply! In fact no, I've been filling the tires with
more soil, dug beside the tire towers. Perhaps this will be too heavy for
potatoes to form(?) It's sandy and well drained, and I've been keeping it
moist - not overly so, watering perhaps twice a week. Since it's mid June
now, I thought I'd harvest one stack, and harvest the others as you
recommend for mature potatoes.
Dick Lovering
"FarmerDill" wrote in message
...

Hi- I'm looking for any and all advice about growing potatoes in old
tires.
I live on Vashon Island, 10 miles from Seattle, and have full sun all
day.
Potatoes love my sandy soil - I grew a crop last year, doing absolutely
nothing but watering - didn't even hill'em- but got great yields. This
year
I decided to try the tire method: I planted the sets 4" below grade, and
when they grew 8" high, I threw a tire over the plant, and filled up the
tire with soil. I'm up to two and three tires in a tower now- the plants
are
between 2' and 3' tall, with the top 8" exposed and the rest of the plant
buried. They all appear to be healthy, growing well, and starting to set
flowers. I have questions about where to grow from here, to wit:

- Should I water around the top, the base of the tire, or both?

- Should I keep on adding a fourth and fifth tire, or should I stop and
let
the plant grow over the top?

- When should I start harvesting the potatoes- when the vine has started
to
turn yellow and shrivel, or any time after the flowers have come and
gone?

- I understand the plants start creating potatoes about the time they
start
to flower (i.e., now), and for a tastier (though smaller) potato, I
should
start tapering off the water. Any comments from experienced growers?

Incidentally, for anyone who's never grown potatoes, they are highly
satisfactory: easy to grow, prolific, and, amazingly, much better than
anything you can buy in the store. I recomment Yukon golds or Yellow
Finns,
though I'm sure each region has its own favorites...

Thanks for suggestions.

Dick Lovering

Dick I am assuming that you are filling each tire as you add it with mulch
(old
hay, straw, shredded leaves ) The potatoes grow in this mulch if it is
kept
damp, One the reasons this works is that the tuber and its attaching stem
have
hair roots which feed the growing potato and does not stress the vine to
provide for it,

As for harvesting, "new" potatoes are usually availalable at flowering,
However
if you wish to store them for any lenght of time wait until the vines die
back
for mature potatoes.

dill