Grow Potatoes in a Wire Cage

,You can grow easy-to-harvest potatoes, with a minimum of fuss and effort. Using a piece of wire stock fence rolled into a cage, growing them is a snap!

Steps

 * 1) Take a piece of wire stock fence or similar sturdy wire fence. Make it about ten feet (approx. 3 meters) long, and roll it into a cylinder about 3 feet (approx. 91 centimeters) wide. Fasten the end to the fence with wire to hold it together. It should form a strong but easy to open cylinder that stands about four feet (1.2 meters) tall.
 * 2) Prepare the soil. Loosen it, and add a bit of fertilizer. This will get the potatoes off to a good start.
 * 3) Plant the potato seedlings as you normally would. Place them about three to four inches (approx. 7.5 cm - 10 cm) deep, hand tamping the soil around them.
 * 4) Place the wire hoops so that they are standing upright. Place them around the planted seed potatoes, centering the future plants.
 * 5) Keep the space filled. Your potato plants will soon be popping out of the soil; as they grow, fill in the space inside the fence with more dirt and compost. Do not bury the plants; only bring the soil level up inside the cylinder two to three inches (5 cm - 7.5 cm).
 * 6)  Continue to fill in the cylinder as the plants grow. The plants will use this extra soil to grow even more potatoes in. Soon, the cylinder will be filled with dirt, compost, and potatoes.
 * 7) Harvest the potatoes when ready. When the plant tops dry and wither, the potatoes are ready to harvest. Simply undo the wire fasteners and pull away the fence.Your potatoes will be ready to harvest, without digging, right in the cylinder of soil.

Tips

 * Plant your potato plants as you normally would, except plant five or six of them close together, so that they will fit inside the upright cylinder of fence when it is stood up over them. Stand the fence up first, and use it to mark a circle in the soil where you should plant the potatoes. You can plant them right next to one another, as the plants will grow upright in the fence, and not spread out. You can actually plant the groups of cylinders right next to one another, saving a lot of garden space.
 * If you have trouble with potato beetles in your area, you can cover the entire cylinder with one of the various materials used for row covers, or even cheese cloth, to keep them at bay.
 * Be sure to mix in compost or other organic material together as you fill in the hoop; just using soil alone will often result in compacted soil, that won't allow potato tubers to develop. Chopped leaves are a very good add-in.
 * The same concept can be used with old car/truck tires. Just stack them around the plant and fill with compost or leave (or even pine needles and straw) as the potato plant(s) grow.

Warnings

 * You should use soil and or compost to fill in the cylinder. Even grass clippings can be used, but don't use them if you have Chem-Lawn or any other chemical lawn services.

Things You'll Need

 * Sturdy wire - 10 feet/3 meters in length
 * Fertilizer (suited to potatoes)
 * Potato seedlings
 * Additional soil
 * Compost
 * Row covers or cheese cloth if you have potato beetle problems

Related Tips and Steps

 * How to Plant Potatoes
 * How to Grow a Tomato Plant
 * How to Make Pineapple Fritters
 * How to Make a Pineapple Upside Down Cake
 * How to Tell if a Pineapple Is Ripe
 * How to Choose Plants for a Garden