Since we enjoy roasted and mash, as well as a good potato salad in summer, I've set up an alternative system for growing them which I was told dates back many generations.
This is aptly called Spuds in a bag. Simple and very versatile and I'm told huge harvests without digging, and doesn't take up a lot of room because it works on vertical growth.
It involves a hessian bag and access to a large amount good composted soil. Getting the hessian bag was the hardest, my local produce store had these bags as dog pillow bags, and are perfect for only $4.50 each.
As I have chickens, their scratching yard has THE best aerated and fertilized soil (without being too acidic) so I had a win/win situation. Simply roll the bag down three quarters, fill that portion with the soil, plant the spuds and wait for them to grow about 40cm high, then unroll the bag about 20-30cm, back fill with more soil and repeat until the bag is full and the plants are growing beyond the height of the bag.
Each time this is done, the plants will send out roots and grow more spuds at that level, all the way up the bag. Therefore, when the spuds at the top section are a good size then you know the ones at the bottom should be huge so then harvest the lot. I have planted two different spuds, the pontiacs and the standard whites. I also put the bags on shade cloth, so they are not sitting directly on dirt and shouldn't rot as quickly. I use diluted worm water from the worm farm mixed with water from the aquaponics as the main watering for my spuds.
Once harvested, I can then put the old soil back in the chook pen and start again. I will set up two more bags when these two are half way so I can alternate and have plenty to harvest.
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