Sara,

Great question. I realize that I need to update this post with the results!! So… at the first good rain we got, all of the holes I’d dug got filled with water. The ground did not drain well at all, and unfortunately almost all of the potatoes sat in water and rotted.

The mounding worked a little better. Though I was horrible about keeping up with it, and didn’t hill them as much as I should have. Plus, the dumb animals kept getting in there (including my chickens) and digging up the potatoes. Once they are exposed to sunlight and turn greenish, they are poisonous.

With all that said, my potatoes that first year didn’t do well at all. Last year (my second attempt) was a *little* better. I tried the no-dig method of just covering them with straw as they grew. But again, my chickens got in there and scratched the bed all up looking for bugs, and ruined a ton of the potatoes. This year I might try that method again, but COVER them with something to keep the animals out!

Hope that helps

Thanks for this blog post, I am trying this for the first time, and it’s super useful! I am wondering how did it work out? Which method seemed to do better? Any advice for those of us venturing behind you?

using the trench method, cover the potatoes when the reach 6″ tall – you can use soil or mulch or straw – making sure you keep the topmost leaves uncovered. potatoes will grow ABOVE the actual seed you set into the ground, so plant deep enough or you will get low yields or green potatoes.

I also planted some potatoes this year, although I hadn’t planned to. They were headed for the compost pile, but I tucked them into a spare area of the garden instead. They look pretty good so far…we’ll see if I can harvest anything!

This year we are planting the Yukon gold potatoes too! We went to a wholesale produce house and just bought a 50 lb. bag. It was about 15.00. I also planted any potatoes that sprouted that I had bought from the store. When the anti-sprouting chemical wears off, they will sometimes sprout. Hope you have a blessed productive garden this year!!

Nancy M.-

One of my books says that once the plant is 6-8 inches tall you can begin hilling it (pushing the dirt up around the stem). The whole point is to keep the tubers (baby potatoes) covered from sunlight, and to force the plant to grow taller, making room for the tubers to grow below. Bring the soil as far up the stem as possible without covering the leaves. You’ll need to hill them about 3 times during the growing season. Hope that helps!