Sweet Potato Planter Box

At this project site I discovered several large wooden crates that were full of junk and scrap materials. I organized and cleaned the out and got a team together to move them into the back area behind a hoop house nursery. They became a very powerful prototype for a sweet potato growing system. There are many ways to grow different types of potatoes where you slowing stack them in a container over time. You can use tall burlap bags, some people use old car tires, I was excited to apply this method within wood crates. The concept is that when you bury potatoes, they grow leaves and vines up out of the soil. With a tall container, or one the can be scaled up, you can cover the new growth of vines and leaves and sure enough, they'll keep growing up and through each added layer of soil. All along the way, new tubers grow so you end up with a vertical garden, such that when it's time to harvest you knock over or dig out an epic harvest.

We laid cinder blocks, corrugated steel sheets, and other barriers beneath the crates to dissuade rodents from chewing and climbing through the bottom. We drilled drainage holes. We then put in a layer of soil mix, laid in potatoes, and slowing repeated the process of burying the new growth with more soil. we had these very useful metal grills that fit perfectly over the boxes. Between those sturdy grills and a folded over double layer of chicken wire, they were relatively secure. Once they got filled up and started growing out the top, I even made tall chicken wire cylinders so that they could grow even higher into towers.