How to Build a Potato Tower

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

A Better Way to Grow Potatoes When Space is Limited

A potato tower is essentially a supported wire cage about 4 to 5 feet high that is layered with straw and compost to grow potatoes vertically. The diameter averages between 2 to 4 feet and the potatoes are planted in layers or tiers of composted soil separated by straw.

Potato Tower Benefits

The primary benefit of a potato tower is that it allows you to grow vertically and save space in your garden. This is a great option for anyone who has limited garden space or wants to maximize the yield from a garden of any size.

Another benefit is ease of harvest. When the potatoes are mature in the fall, you simply remove the wire cage and knock the tower of straw and compost over. You then pull apart the soil and straw and pluck out the potatoes.

There is the potential for a greater yield relative to the space used for the towers but the total yield can vary depending on the average temperature and moisture maintained in the tower. Potatoes like cool, moist soil and a tower sticking up into the air and sun can make temperature and moisture management a challenge.

When to Plant Potatoes in Your Tower

Planting season in a potato tower is no different than when you plant potatoes in the ground. Plant after the threat of frost has passed. This is usually in late Spring depending on where you live. As the sprouts emerge they are subject to any frost and that will diminish your yield and the size of your potatoes.

As the potato plants grow, most of them will emerge from the sides of the tower and the layer on top will both grow to the side and straight up.

Chitting your seed potatoes before planting will give your tower a head start. About 2 to 4 weeks before your planting date, set your seed potatoes in a single layer in a cool spot with indirect light, like a windowsill or garage shelf. You'll see short, stubby sprouts form on the eyes.

Potatoes planted with these sprouts already started tend to emerge faster and establish themselves before the heat of summer sets in, which matters even more in a tower since the soil warms up faster than it does in the ground.

Building the Tower

You’ll need some basic supplies and tools but a potato tower is an easy build. The hard part is filling it properly with straw and your soil mix.

Tools:

• Shovel
• Wire cutters
• Pliers (for twisting wire)
• Sledge hammer
• Hoe
• Staple gun

Supplies:

• Fencer wire 3 to 4 feet wide and 4 to 6 feet long (similar to chicken wire but has a larger diameter wire although you can use any type of wire fencing if that’s all you have as long as it holds and contains the straw).

• Baling wire (for closing up and attaching the cage to the support pole
• 6 foot metal or wood support pole
• A bale of hay or collected straw
• A blend of topsoil, compost and peat moss
• 20 to 40 seed potatoes per tower depending on tower size
• A length of 2 to 3 inch PVC pipe, drilled with holes every few inches (optional, but it makes watering a much taller tower far easier)

Assembly:

1. Drive the support pole directly into the ground. Determine the height of the tower you want to build (5 foot is about the maximum) and make sure the top of your support pole is about that height.

2. Wire or staple your fencer wire to the support pole on one edge of the wire.
3. Curve the fencer wire to create a circular cage. You can connect a length of fencer wire with baling wire if you want a larger cage. The finished cage should be 2 to 4 feet in diameter.
4. Bring the end of the fencer wire back around to the support pole and wire or staple it to create a secure, circular cage.
5. If you're building a taller tower (4 feet or more), stand a length of drilled PVC pipe upright in the center of the cage before you start filling it with straw and soil. As you build each layer, keep the pipe centered and let the straw and soil pack in around it. When you water, pour directly into the top of the pipe and it will carry water down into the lower layers instead of just soaking the top few inches. This solves the number one problem with tall towers, which is dry soil at the bottom while the top gets plenty of water.

Filling the tower with soil and straw:

1. Toss some hay into tower and tamp it down with the hoe until you have about 4 inches of compacted hay or straw.
2. Use your shovel to reach down and drag some of the straw up towards the side of the tower until you have a circular wall of hay against the edges of the cage about 4 inches high. You want to create a well of straw to hold your soil.
3. Shovel your soil mix into the tower filling the cupped well you’ve made with the straw.

4. Plant your first layer of potatoes towards the edge of the tower.
5. Reach through the cage with your fingers and push the seed potatoes into the soil and cover with soil.
6. Add another 4 inch layer of straw and repeat the process of pulling an additional 4 inches up the side of the tower.
7. Plant more seed potatoes and repeat until you get to the final layer of soil at the top of the tower.
8. When you reach the final layer of soil at the top of the tower and you plant your seed potatoes across the layer of soil. You don’t need to restrict the planting to the edge of the tower.
9. Cover the top layer of soil with a final 4 inches of straw and tamp down.
10. Water the tower to setting the straw and the soil and get the potatoes started.

Potato Tower Tips

• You can plant any variety of potato in a potato tower. In fact, another benefit is that you can mix and match varieties. Plant Russet potatoes in the first layer, Red potatoes in the second, Yukon gold in the third and so on. It may be worth experimenting that way the first time you build a potato tower to see if a certain variety does better in a tower than others.

• Locate your tower in a place where it will get at least 6 hours of sun a day.
• Keep your tower well watered. A vertical tower exposed to the sun and winds will dry out sooner than anything at ground level. This is especially true at the top of the tower. That’s why you want the entire tower enclosed in straw or hay. It helps to hold in some moisture and protect the soil from direct sunlight. It also why you want a loamy, composted soil mix. That holds moisture better throughout the day and from day to day.
• The straw is critical to success. The straw or hay you incorporate into your tower will make harvesting easier. Potatoes have no problem growing in a mix of soil and straw and the potatoes are much easier to see in a straw/soil mix. The straw around the sides of the tower is also very important. It’s your best protection against heat and will help retain the moister in the soil. Make sure you are both generous and meticulous with your straw placement between layers and on the sides of your tower.
• A good mix for your soil consists of 1/3 part topsoil, 1/3 compost and 1/3 peat moss. Blend all 3 together and use to grow your potatoes. The topsoil and compost provide nutrients and the peat moss does a great job of holding in moisture in the tower.
• Feed your tower halfway through the season. All that straw and compost will feed your potatoes early on, but a tower gets watered more often than an in-ground bed, and nutrients wash out faster as a result. Around the time your plants start flowering, work a balanced organic fertilizer or a diluted fish emulsion into the top layer to keep the plants going through the rest of the season.

Potato Tower Fails

• The most common lament with potato towers is small potatoes. This is largely due to high heat and a lack of moisture. Potatoes grow best in cool, moist soil. If you have a particularly hot summer or warm spell, water more frequently. In fact, water daily if you can just to make sure your soil stays moist.
• Some seed potatoes don’t sprout. This is usually due to a lack of water when the potatoes are first planted. Water heavily on the top but water the sides of the tower as well. The straw will help to wick the water into the tower but it’s a delicate environment because your root system is above ground rising vertically into the air. Water, water, water.
• If a variety doesn’t do well, it’s possible you had a growing season that just wasn’t right for that particular potato or they just don’t like growing in a tower. That’s why planting multiple varieties in your first tower is a good idea. Stick with the varieties that do well and plant the other varieties in the ground in the traditional way.
• The tower leans or topples in high wind. This happens most often with taller towers once they're fully loaded with wet soil and straw. Drive your support pole at least 12 to 18 inches into the ground before you start building, and if you're in a particularly windy spot, add two or three guy lines from the top of the pole to stakes in the ground to keep everything upright.

When and How to Harvest Your Potato Tower

Most farmers will tell you that the best time to harvest potatoes is when the plant stalks have begun to brown and turn dry. That’s when the potatoes are at their largest and the plant is essentially done growing.

To harvest your tower, cut the bailing wire or loosen any fasteners and removed the fencer wire from your tower. The straw and soil construction should still be standing in vertical position but it will be a bit precarious. That’s a good thing because it makes the next step easier.

Push your tower over and onto the ground. Some of the soil and straw tower will come apart. Reach in with your hands and start to tear apart the straw and soil. The potatoes should reveal themselves as your pull the tower apart and all you have to do is pluck them out. Think of it as “potato prospecting.”

Roll up your fencer wire for next year, pull out the support stake and shovel the straw and soil into the compost heap.

You can also harvest any very small potatoes still attached to the roots and either toss them in a soup or plant them in an unused or random part of the garden to overwinter. You might get lucky and get a bonus crop next year.

You May Also Like:

• How to Grow Sweet Potatoes
• 10 Ways to Grow Strawberries Vertically
• How to Care for Chickens in the Winter
• 15 Easy Ways to Grow Potatoes
• How to Grow Food in Straw Bales

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Top Gardening Tips for Growing Tomatoes

For many gardeners, tomatoes are one of the main reasons they fell in love with gardening in the first place. I, too, know from experience how rewarding and satisfying it is every time I get to enjoy a slice of tomato that I grew in my garden. Here are some of the top gardening tips for growing tomatoes.

If it’s your first ever growing tomatoes, or you’re hoping for better results this time, I’d happily share what I know. These are some of the top gardening tips for growing tomatoes that you ought to know. 

Top Gardening Tips for Growing Tomatoes

Wait for the Right Time to Plant 

Just because you’ve had a few days of sunshine and temperatures have finally warmed up doesn’t mean it’s the right time to plant your tomatoes. For tomato plants, you must be patient and wait until all threats of frost are out of the way. However, if you’re getting antsy like most gardeners, you can consider starting your seedlings indoors to give them a head start. 

Make Sure Your Garden Soil is Up to Snuff 

Your garden soil plays a huge role in how successful you will be as a gardener. Good soil must be well-draining, full of nutrients, and have a light and fluffy texture. Without one of these variables, your tomato plants will have difficulty growing to their full potential. If you are unsatisfied with what you currently have to work with, here are some tips on improving your garden soil. 

Plant them Deep

You want your tomato plants to be robust, with a healthy root system that runs deep. Do this by planting your tomato plants deeper than you would expect. Only the top few leaves should be showing when properly planted. Go ahead and pinch off the lower branches and cover them with soil. This is an essential tip for growing tomatoes. In case you missed this post, How to Garden With 5-Gallon Buckets

Provide Plenty of Sunlight 

Tomato plants enjoy lots of sunshine. You must plant them in a location that receives full sunlight, about 6 to 8 hours daily. If there’s not enough sunlight in your backyard for growing tomatoes, you may want to consider planting them in pots or containers to move around. You can also grow them indoors under a consistent light source.

Yellow Flowers But Zero Fruit? 

It could be because they are not pollinating due to a lack of a slight breeze or from bees. I have used this product and it works. Tomato Blossom Set

Hand Pollinate

You only need a paintbrush to pollinate your squash or tomatoes. If you need to hand-pollinate because you aren’t seeing any fruit develop, here is something you may want to try. You do this by removing the male flower blossoms (male blossoms don’t have fruit behind them).

They produce pollen, leaving the center covered in pollen to collect with the brush. Use a “brush” to apply the pollen you collected to the center of the female flower. This works for tomatoes, squash, melons, and cucumbers every time.

I’ve also found that having good flowering companion plants nearby helps with pollination. If you can attract bees or other pollinators to the flowers, your pollination problems may be solved.

Stake Your Plants 

Once your tomatoes start to grow, it will only be a matter of time before the plant can no longer support its weight. This can cause the plant’s stem to break, or the fruit will grow on the ground, leading to disease and rotting.

Staking your tomato plants as they grow is the best way to prevent this. You may even need to do this as often as once or twice a week to keep up with them.

I use some narrow-gauge garden poles I buy at my local nursery. I tie the central plant stem to the poles with green stretchable plant tape. Try to tie them such that the plant has some room to grow without damaging the branches. Don’t tie too tightly since the plant should slide up the tape as it grows. Green Stretchable Garden Tape and the 48-inch Garden Poles (these last for years) and Sturdy Tomato Cages

Also, note that I use some heavy-duty tomato cages. These are a little hard to find, but I buy mine from Glover Nursery in West Jordan, Utah. They have lasted for years and help support those branches as the tomatoes grow to full size. My plants often grow to nearly my height in my 18″ deep grow boxes/raised planters. I don’t want my tomatoes to rest on the ground as they mature. You’ll love these cages!

Give them Calcium 

Unfortunately, you won’t know if your tomato plant has a calcium deficiency until you pick its fruit. You’ll wind up with tomatoes that are rotten on the bottom. Yuck! You can avoid blossom-end rot by adding calcium to your plants.

You can do this by sprinkling powdered milk around the base of the stem, and don’t hesitate to do this sooner rather than later. If you have questions about growing them in your particular location, don’t be afraid to inquire at your local nursery or stores like Lowe’s or Home Depot if they have a functioning garden center. They can prove very helpful.

Blossom Rot

This is tomato blossom rot. I picked this one from a pot where I’m growing tomatoes. You can still save the plant. It’s caused by insufficient calcium in the tissue of the tomato. You need to maintain moisture in the soil throughout the season. You can add crushed eggshells or use the product shown above. Bonide Blossom Rot Concentrate

Add Mulch

Mulch does your garden several favors, which is why it is highly recommended. It helps the soil around your plants retain moisture while keeping weeds down and away from them. It also keeps the soil from getting on your plants when watering them, which can help prevent them from exposure to possible diseases.   

Water Your Plants Regularly

When your seedlings are first starting, they must be watered daily, and sometimes twice if temperatures are already getting hot. Once they mature, they’ll need about 1 to 1 ½ inches of water each week. If you’re wondering if it’s time for more water, stick your finger into the ground next to the plant. If the soil is dry before it reaches your first knuckle, you’ll know it’s time to water.  

While tomato plants need plenty of water, be aware that it is possible to overwater them too. It can be easy to do so because overwatering looks a lot like underwatering. Your plants may start shriveling up, and their fruit may crack. Watering them earlier in the day is also recommended.

Fertilize with Just the Right Amount 

When you fertilize your tomato plants, they will thrive, but you must carefully use a balanced approach. Over-fertilizing will give your plants too much nitrogen, which can lead to bushier plants but fewer tomatoes. Fertilize Your Plants

If you notice yellow leaves on your plants, they’re not receiving enough nitrogen, and you will need to increase their feeding. As a general rule of thumb, tomato plants should be fertilized about once every month. 

Trim and Prune Foliage

If left unkempt, tomato plants will become a bushy mess, and your tomato crops will suffer. That’s why pruning your tomato plants regularly is so important; this will also allow them to reach harvest sooner. This should be done to the older leaves once the plant is around 3 feet tall. Most gardeners prefer to prune back the foliage and leaves closest to the ground to avoid diseases and bugs.    

Watch For Pests and Diseases 

Checking your tomato plants regularly is critical to their health. Don’t let it go if you notice any signs of disease or evidence that something is munching on their leaves. Take care of it immediately. Here are the types of pests and diseases you may encounter and how to treat them organically. 

Cheryl-Master Gardener Tip

When your tomato plants reach 2 1/2 feet tall, remove the bottom leaves far enough to allow air to circulate and keep the leaves from being watered. Choose the best 3-4 strongest stems and train them up, pruning out the rest carefully. Tie these up onto poles to spread out.

This will bring in lots of sunshine and provide excellent pollination. I was taught this method at one of my Master Gardener classes. It was a fantastic class; I have used this method ever since. My plants can reach over 5 feet and produce huge crops. Adding more air to circulate sets the blossoms for fruit. Toward the end of the season, I prune the top so everything below can ripen. Make sure to add calcium as they start to produce!

Growing Tomatoes 

Growing tomatoes in your own backyard is one of the most rewarding parts of a home garden. Not only do they taste worlds better than anything from the store, but they are also a wonderful way to teach kids about where food comes from and how to work with their hands in the soil. Whether you have a big garden plot or just a few containers on a porch, tomatoes are a great choice for beginners and experienced gardeners alike.

Start with the basics. Tomatoes need at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight each day, so pick your sunniest spot. They also love warm soil, so wait until nighttime temperatures are reliably above fifty degrees before transplanting seedlings outside. Rich, well-draining soil is key. Mix in compost or aged manure before planting to give your tomatoes the nutrients they need to thrive all season long. Consistent watering matters too. Deep, regular watering encourages strong root systems and helps prevent problems like blossom-end rot, which is often caused by uneven moisture.

Support is another important piece of the puzzle. Cages, stakes, or trellises help keep the plants upright and the fruit off the ground, which reduces disease and makes harvesting much easier. Pruning the suckers that grow between the main stem and branches can also improve airflow and direct the plant’s energy toward producing fruit rather than excess foliage.

For families who want an easier growing experience, choosing disease-resistant varieties can make a big difference. A few excellent options include Celebrity, which is known for its reliable production and resistance to common tomato diseases. Better Boy is another favorite, prized for its large, juicy fruit and strong resistance to verticillium and fusarium wilt. Mountain Magic is a wonderful choice for gardeners battling humid climates, since it resists both late blight and cracking. For a smaller option that kids especially enjoy picking and eating right off the vine, Sun Gold cherry tomatoes are sweet, prolific, and fairly resistant to common diseases.

With a little sunshine, good soil, and steady care, your family can enjoy a bountiful tomato harvest all summer long. It is a simple project that brings the whole family together and adds a wonderful sense of self-reliance to your home.

Final Word

Growing your own tomatoes is more than just a garden project. It is a chance to teach your children patience, responsibility, and the simple joy of watching something grow from a tiny seed into a plant that feeds your family. Even if you only have room for one pot on your porch, give it a try this season. There is nothing quite like biting into a warm tomato you grew with your own two hands. Growing tomato plants requires a bit of love and attention, but you and your family will be rewarded with delicious-tasting fruit all summer. Mark and I enjoy BLT sandwiches during the summer—they’re so delicious! If you’re a gardener and have had success in the past growing tomatoes, what are some other helpful tips that beginners would benefit from? May God bless this world, Linda.

Copyright Images: Pollinate Tomatoes by Hand AdobeStock_856279053 By ROMAN DZIUBALO

Please Check Out What To Plant Each Month:

• What To Plant In January
• What To Plant In February
• What To Plant In March
• What To Plant In April
• What To Plant In May
• What To Plant In June
• What To Plant In July
• What To Plant In August
• What To Plant In September
• What To Plant In October

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