Taking Advantage of the Rain & Mud: Supporting Fallen Potato Plants

Well if you're like me and have 2 to 3 foot maturing mounded-up potato plants, your plants may be in need of support - literally. Almost daily these days, I walk around my rows of potatoes constantly adjusting and re-positioning my bamboo sticks to keep some fallen potato plants standing upright. But it doesn't seem to be enough. Potato Plants, some fallen over, before supporting w/ muddy soil Monday morning while I was doing my daily ritualistic walk in & around my garden, two things came to me: 1) I need to till in between rows to rid these grass & weeds, but can't due to the day-after-day rains (another day/another blog post), and 2) Some of my potato plants need some helping standing straight. Then it occurred to me: Why don't I take advantage of this mud, get dirty, and pack some of it around the bases of the potato plants. BRILLIANT! Off I went. Mounding wet dirt around potato plant base for support Just because potato plants fall over, it does not mean that they're dead or that they can't continue to grow or prosper. I personally choose to keep them upright because it gives me peace of mind, makes my garden look tidy, and allows me to till better in-between my rows. If there is a downside to this, it's that water might opt to run off rather than soak into the soil due to the excessive packing of the soil, but that's a trade off I'm willing to take. Potato plants now standing upright Hopefully this will be enough to keep the potatoes standing up straight until they're ready for harvest, but I seriously doubt it. If not, you know where I'll be after the next heavy rain -- gettin' dirty again.