Last year I built a potato tower bed from these concrete blocks that I found behind the shed. It didn’t go very well because a mole decided to do a sneak attack from below.
I assume it ate all the potatoes from the ground and up, because I didn’t find any at all in the tower despite large foliage coming out of the top. The tower was also surrounded by several molehills.
On top of that (literally) the potato plants were decapitated by killer slugs, so I wasn’t too happy about this project at all. But this it’s going to be different, as I have a couple of tricks up my sleeve.
I have several of these concrete blocks available so the tower is going to be quite high.
Here’s a nice spot for the potato tower bed. It’s in the driveway but it doesn’t look too bad.
I had to move a couple of strawberry plants to another garden bed, but hopefully they will survive. After all, they don’t belong in the driveway, but hey – it’s food!
This is my secret weapon this year against that damn mole: chicken wire under the potato tower!
Also, the entire thing has been move the another place in the garden, where the mole hasn’t been spotted.
Since the tower will be quite tall it has to be level so it won’t slide.
The chicken wire has been hidden very well – nothing to see here!
I’m using a mixture of the compost available from the recycling station (left) and some garden soil (right) in a 50 / 50 ratio. The garden soil is almost useless here, since it’s nearly all sand.
The lucky potato that will get to inhabit this large tower and hopefully multiply into many many potatoes as the plant grows upwards.
I still need to create a shield against killer slugs from the top, but my plan is to use tin foil around the upper edge. Or perhaps also chicken wire with a smaller mesh.
This is the spot where the tower will be built as the weeks pass by. Accompanied by wild strawberry, which will probably have to be moved to make room for a couple of self-watering polystyrene boxes.
I also did a bit of weeding underneath the flowering apple tree. It’s really beautiful at the moment with all its flowers.
Here’s the interpretation from Google Photos. It’s pure art.
