Planting potatoes for 2020

It's potato day 2020 and as usual, I'm trying something new.  I had purchased a few bags of potatoes back when the grocery shopping panic was happening a month and a half ago.  I had one bag that I didn't use fast enough and they all sprouted eyes, so I'm giving them a chance to work in the garden. 

I had a 4'x4' raised bed that was lying fallow, so that seemed like an ideal spot.  I raked away the mulch and dug some shallow trenches to plant in. Unlike the traditional method, I placed the potatoes in whole, rather than cutting them up.  I figured it would increase the strength of the plants as well as my chances of success. 

There was just enough soil to cover the potatoes back up, and then I covered the soil with an inch or two of the wood chips that I had right there.  I will add more wood chips soon, but this should give them a head start while we get some rain for the next few days.  I plan to hill them with wood chips until they stop growing or the chips overflow the area.

I'm hoping the wood chips work wonders for the potatoes like I have heard about from people like Paul Gautschi. I can visualize them growing through and setting potatoes on the vines, beneath the surface of the wood chips.  

With people talking about food shortages, increasing food prices and overall inflation, people's fears are on the rise.  God willing, this should give me a little bit of "food insurance" to help improve my odds of success throughout this unstable situation that we're all in right now. 

Good day everyone and may God bless you. 

✌❤🙂