The Great Potato Experiment

We were late in getting our garden in this year but things are still growing pretty well.  I'm hoping for a nice fall as that will let me harvest later than typical. 

My husband helped me rig up a contraption in what I hope will help them produce more.  I'd seen potato towers on Pinterest and other sites and decided to make a frugal version.

I have five potato plants that came up, which surprised me as it seemed to take so long I'd given up on them.  I kept mounding the soil up on the plants but they were starting to get pretty big and the soil kept rolling off the mound.  I stopped at my local dollar store and purchased five laundry baskets for $1 each.  I also purchased 14 qts. of potting soil.

My husband used a shop knife to cut the bottom out of each basket.  I put the basket over an individual plant, maneuvering them so that each plant was able to get a basket.

Since laundry baskets have holes along the sides, I layered hay up against the sides on the inside to hold the soil in.

Then I layered the baskets with the potting soil and garden soil. I also had my husband zip-tie them all together as the first two were leaning a bit so I could get all the baskets in there and I was afraid the addition of the heavy soil would wind up toppling them.  I watered them well and the hay also helped to hold in the water.

Here's hoping my experiment works!