Potato Growing Method: Experiment

Are you growing potatoes in your veggie garden this season? We’ve grown them off and on but thought it’d be fun to try a different potato growing method this year.

We actually haven’t grown potatoes for the past couple of years. Bill and I started growing potatoes in raised beds quite a few years ago. More recently, we grew them in “grow bags” as a way to save space in the garden. Unfortunately, the harvests weren’t as great as the standard, in-ground planting method.

So they recently weren’t on our list for 2026. That is, until Bill read an article in the “2025 Best of Mother Earth News Gardening” magazine. In it, the author compared 5 different ways of growing potatoes to determine which methods were the most productive.

The “Straw Mulch” trial intrigued Bill the most. It involved setting seed potatoes just below the composted soil surface and covering them with straw as they grew. The benefit was that a gardener didn’t have to dig up the potatoes. According to the article, this method yielded about 1/2 pound less potatoes than the standard “trench-and-hill” method. Yet it was still quite productive.

He was intrigued. I was somewhat dubious, to be honest! So we agreed to try two different methods so we could do our own informal comparison. Unfortunately, we had bought an uneven number of seed potatoes. We used 5 for the straw method and the remaining 4 for the more traditional trenching method.

Here’s how we set up our experiment of potato growing methods:

We first put our 9 ‘Russian Banana’ seed potatoes through the “chitting” method. This involves placing them into a container in a bright area indoors to allow them to start sprouting. Empty egg cartons work great for this! Taking about a month, the chitting process gives the plants a head start at planting time. In the photo to the left, you can see the little sprouts on each potato.

Bill prepared the soil in the raised bed by gently loosening it and incorporating some bonemeal. It’s high in phosphorus, which helps root crops grow well.

He also dug 4 planting holes in one half of the bed, for the traditional planting method. The holes were about 8″ deep and I placed a seed potato in each of them, lying on their sides. Then I covered them with about 3″ of soil. Every time the potato sprouts emerge, I’ll add more soil. And I’ll continue this routine until the soil reaches the top of my half of the bed.

In Bill’s half, the soil was about an inch below the lip of the raised bed. He placed “his” 5 seed potatoes there. You’ll notice in the photo to the left that he created a little “fence” around that area, using apple branches. That made a barrier to help keep the straw in place.

Each time those potatoes start to sprout through the straw, Bill intends to keep adding more straw. In the photo at the bottom, you can see what the whole bed looks like at this point. Our drip irrigation system is running down the length of the bed.

I think this will be a fun experiment, even though it’s on a very small scale. You might be wondering if we like to challenge each other to this sort of thing. Not really, but it’s just so much fun trying new methods! Stay tuned for updates…

Here’s a view of the whole bed, which is 3′ wide by 8′ long: