• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
GardenFork - Eclectic DIY
  • Email Signup
  • Podcast
  • Articles
  • Video
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Email Signup
  • Podcast
  • Articles
  • Video
  • Follow Me Here:

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Email Signup
    • Podcast
    • Articles
    • Video
  • Follow Me Here:

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Video » Gardening TV

    Hilling Potatoes How To - GF Video

    by Eric · This post may contain affiliate links, its one way we pay the bills. · 2 Comments

    Hilling Potatoes is the middle step when you grow and harvest potatoes. Not sure what hilling potatoes is? Watch our how to video and read on.

    Hilling Potatoes, what is it?

    Potatoes, the crop, grow along the stem of the potato plant. When you plant your potatoes - video here - you plant them 6" deep in the soil. To get a better crop, once the plants grow above the soil line, and are about 12" high, you add about 6" of soil along the potato plant stem. ( you can add more soil, if you want, its subjective) This adding of soil along the plant stem is called hilling.potato videos insert 2

    We use raised beds, so hilling potatoes is easy, we remove some of the soil in the potato bed, then dig down 6" to plant the seed potatoes. When its time for potato hilling, we add some sort of fence alongside the raised bed, and add soil, burying the stems of the potato plants.

    hilling-potatoes 2

    You can use different materials to hill. Straw, compost, leaves, soil, or a mix of all this. With straw you may get mice burrowing into it, so keep an eye on that.

    hilling-potatoes 1

    If you have a long planting season, you may be able to hill the potatoes twice, and get a larger crop. We aren't able to do this, being in New England. We've also found that hilling potatoes much past 6-8" doesn't yield many more potatoes. Your results may be different, that just the way gardening is.

    potato video insert plant harvest

    « How to Grow Potatoes - GF Video
    Bacon Wrapped Grilled Cheese Recipe - GF Video »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Richard Morris

      February 20, 2016 at 11:22 am

      Hello Eric,
      I watched your hilling potatoes video and was reminded of something I read years ago when we lived in South Africa. The idea was to plant the potatoes in dirt inside an old car tire. As the stem and leaves emerged you add more dirt and then stack more tires on top. Eventually there would be several tires stacked with potatoes growing inside. The yield was enormous. And it enabled a high yield in a small space. I have not tried it but wondered if you are aware of this idea.
      Thanks for all your very stimulating videos and podcasts.
      Richard

    2. Eric

      March 09, 2016 at 7:35 pm

      Yes, i have heard of that Richard, thanks for that. I haven't tried it but we'll see. thx!

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Become a Monthly Supporter of GardenFork. Click Here To Learn More

    Pages

    • About
    • Email Signup
    • Let's Stay Connected With Each Other
    • Maple Syrup Evaporator Information
    • Pizza Oven Plans & Make Pizza Videos
    • Privacy Policy
    • Radio
    • Terms of Use & Affliate Information
    • The GF Amazon Shop
    • Want More GardenFork? Here You Go:

    My lawyer makes me do this part: Visitors agree to our Terms Of Service and Affliate Information - Use This Information At Your Own Risk

    Produced by GardenFork Media LLC, Brooklyn, NY ©2021 All Rights Reserved