How do you grow potatoes in a raised bed?

QUESTION: How do you grow potatoes in a raised bed? Is the soil deep enough? -Kim L.

ANSWER: Potatoes do very well in a raised bed, and it’s one of the most productive ways to grow them. Start with the bed filled about halfway, and loosen the soil inside the bed. Cut your seed potatoes into chunks about the size and shape of an ice cube that have at least two eyes each. Plant your pieces of seed potato three inches deep, with 12 inches of space between seeds. Water your potatoes just after planting.

As the potatoes put out foliage and it grows taller, continue adding soil to the raised bed, but don’t cover the shoots completely. They need to stick out above the soil so they’ll keep growing. Potato plants need an inch or two of water per week and should be watered every four or five days when they’re young. Once flowers appear, increase the watering frequency to every two or three days.

Your potatoes are ready to harvest when their skin has thickened, after the plants have died away completely. You may wish to remove the sides of the raised bed to make digging up the potatoes easier.