The construction of the potato tower
Quite in Sense of permaculture you should use what is available in the garden for the layers of your potato tower.
You need:
- larger stones to anchor the potato tower
- compost
- Garden soil
- Leaves, chopped material, straw or pruning
also read
- Potato tower and masonry bucket instead of potato bed
- Grow tomatoes in the permaculture garden
- Create a hillbed in the permaculture garden
In addition, your potato tower needs a coating. This is often done with a finer mesh Wire mesh(€ 16.49 at Amazon *) used. If you prefer a natural variant, you can weave a tower from tree cuttings and line it with straw or something similar so that the earth does not trickle out.
The variants of the potato tower
Not all potato towers are the same. There are several variants, all of which will give you a bountiful harvest:
The potato tower with a door
If you are a skilled craftsman, you can provide your potato tower with a wooden casing and a door. This allows you to gradually harvest potatoes over the course of the year without destroying the plant.
The potato tower that grows
A variant is to fill the potato tower only about a quarter with soil and only put one layer of potatoes. Then it is time to wait. If the first green appears, put a layer of soil several centimeters thick on top. Then wait again. If there is renewed sign of green, fill in soil again, etc. until the tower is full. So instead of leaves, potatoes will form between the layers.
The classic potato tower
If you don't feel like it, the potato tower in the eye to keep and constantly replenish earth, you can opt for the classic variant:
- Shape the shell of your potato tower and place it in the desired, sunny location in your permaculture garden.
- Fix the potato tower with stones.
- Then put a layer of hay or pruning in the tower and put some compost on top.
- Now, clockwise, place the potatoes on the edge. When the potatoes are already sprouting, the shoots should point outwards so that the green grows outwards.
- Cover the potatoes with soil and put another layer of hay on top.
- Then again compost, soil and potatoes etc. until the tower is full.
The idea is that the individual potato plants grow outwards and form the potatoes inside. So you have not one, but many potato plants in a single potato tower.
The potatoes are ready to be harvested after three to four months.
