Trapping Potatoes the Easy Way!

Tricky and conniving, potatoes can take over nearly anywhere you lay them. Hungry feeders, they sap your soil! Those pesky tubers!

I’d be the first to admit though, if you dig them up while they least expect it and rush them to the oven or grill, they’re unlike anything you’ll taste in the store, full of starchy goodness and flavor.

Without an ounce of trepidation, I decided to get crazy on my French fingerling potatoes and trap them in a cage!

This is my first year actually trying anything other than simple mounding techniques (the same we use to blanch our sturdy leeks) and I am ready for those 100 pounds of potatoes. I build our cage out of 2 x 12 x 8’s that Stewart Lumber had for sale and followed the cut sheet and directions given by Irish Eyes, a Washington supplier of seed potatoes.

Common containers include using old tires stacked on each other, a large garbage can with holes drilled in the bottom, or even straw bales (which is something I am going to make room for if this year’s harvest is good).

With lovely organic top soil from Cedar Grove, if this fails it’s my fault for not getting my potatoes in the ground a month ago.

Instructions to make your own are right here.