I made two of the potato boxes this year. I kept adding sides and dirt to them as they grew taller. One box got about 3 feet tall the other only about a foot. The one that was only a foot tall had a pretty good amount of potatoes, nothing extraordinary. The 3 foot box did not have potatoes until I got to the bottom foot or so. Did I do something wrong? What did you do with the purple potato flowers, just let them grow???

I saw where Kalispell is below freezing today. It's in the low 80s and humid here.

I made two of the potato boxes this year. I kept adding sides and dirt to them as they grew taller. One box got about 3 feet tall the other only about a foot. The one that was only a foot tall had a pretty good amount of potatoes, nothing extraordinary. The 3 foot box did not have potatoes until I got to the bottom foot or so. Did I do something wrong? What did you do with the purple potato flowers, just let them grow???

I've seen that happen. I had a few plants in primo near-Mississippi black dirt, and they flourished like it were the Congo. Potatoes? Um...yeah, about those potatoes.

Don't know what it is, but perhaps like other plants, it can put the effort into the fruits or the vines. That's why people are told to clip some species - in order to induce fruiting. But I've never heard that advised for potatoes.

I saw where Kalispell is below freezing today. It's in the low 80s and humid here.

Yes it has been around 20 in the day and single digits at night. Doesnt bother me, we are excited about ski season and are still hiking.

I still have not heard from the K man yet but my husband and I think that since potatoes normally thrive in stony soil and we used really good soil that maybe we should have thrown in a few rocks to make the plant struggle and create more potatoes...

Sorry I didn't see this earlier, April.

I'd use a mix of hay and dirt when you pile the potatoes higher. Also, with experimentation, you need a larger sample to get more reliable results. It might have just been that particular plant that failed.

I did a few potato experiments this year. One was burying the whole plant. Some came up through the soil/hay and kept going, some died. So I'd say leave a few top leaves exposed to the sun.

Another experiment that definitely worked is when you get a volunteer potato plant in early spring, dig it out. You'll find it's a clump of several individual plants. Dig a trench and plant the individual plants separately in the trench, spaced about a foot apart, and each individual should grow into a strong, healthy potato plant.

Lastly, fingerling potatoes are excellent! They produce so much that you only need to buy the seed potatoes once. I was at the supermarket the other day and saw them selling "French Fingerling Potatoes" for 6.65 a pound! Isn't that crazy? At that price, I have 2000 dollars worth of fingerling potatoes in my basement, and I'm not nearly done digging. What a scam! Asian pears are a scam too. Sure they taste good, but how can they charge 3 bucks each? I got about 500 of them this year.

Anyway, good luck with your potatoes, April!