Making Potato Boxes

I made this potato box for Julia's Valentines day present. She has some spuds that are on the counter just crying to be buried. I used some of the 2x4s left over from the last planter box to build a simple design I've had in my head for a while. The picture on top shows one side with the corner braces flush with the bottom and an inch and a half from the top to allow another section to sit on top (I'll build that later).


Next I nailed the other boards to the sides and ended up with a box. I used galvanized nails so they won't rust too soon.


Since gophers are a big problem for us I nailed quarter inch hardware cloth to the bottom with smaller galvanized nails.


This detail shows the overlap of the hardware cloth and how it is fixed to the bottom of the box with nails.


Here is a picture of the tools - chop saw, a hammer, tape measure. The nails are in the shopping bag.


Here is the ever present quality inspector checking my work.

The way the box will work is that we'll fill it with compost and stick the potatoes in there. When the vines grow out the top we'll add another box on top and fill it with more dirt. After we add a few sections, we'll wait a while and harvest the potatoes inside by taking the frames off.

We'll post more pictures when we plant the potatoes.