LMAO! What a great story. Those nightshades love the acidic soil. When I plant potatoes, I use an inch thick layer of pine needles. I plant in old tires so that I can increase to volume of the plant with very little effort. I plant 4 tires high and lots of chicken poop and mulch.
Ill read the rest of the saga throughout the day gotta get my butt to work.
Interesting! My fields are surrounded by forest so I have plenty of pine needles available. Was thinking of doing my potatoes under straw (got plenty of that, too) but your comment got me thinking that it might be good to throw some pine needles in the mix as well.
I have found that all nightshades do very well in acidic soil, So my potatoes this year, i did a layer of soil, layer of straw and a layer of mulch then pine needles, once through the pine I will cover with another 4 layers (of the same). I do, though, grow using the old tire stack method. This way the tires keep the soil warm and not much to harvesting other than pushing down the tire stack.