I've got a small urban lot and I'm planning on as many potatoes as i can next year so i think I'm going to try potato towers. You can use old tires (not for me), wire mesh or there are products on the market made of recycled plastics for this 'no-dig' method.

Here's a youtube video that gives you the gist. Although I've read using manure has been tied to black spots on the potatoes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xbUI6Y18pY

Here is a link that might be useful: Youtube Potato Tower

I see you posted this several months ago so maybe you found your answer. Potatoes should be planted 4 inches deep and about a foot apart. I live in Kansas City and have great luck w/ Kinnebecs. I still have some from last year.

I plant mine about this time of year. I get some seed potatoes (you won't need many for a 4 x 6 area) and cut them into 2 - 3 pieces making sure that each piece has an eye. Let them scab over for 4 - 5 days, then plant them.

I top mine with straw and leaves and have had great success w/ that method.

Avoid using tires. They are made of a lot of ingredients that make the tire usable for the road but release a lot of funky stuff into the soil as they decompose. I have used 5 gallon containers and they work pretty well. Just put some soil and 3 potatoes (remember they need to be about 12" apart) in the bottom of the container. Then as the vine starts growing I throw some shredded bark or straw mulch on top of it till it flowers.

Hope this helps!

You might consider the build as you go bin for potatoes. I think it was designed by sinafon (sp?)who is a member of Gardenweb. Search "potato bin" and you'll find it either under the Vegetable or Container forum. I'm planning on having two of these this year. It appears to be very easy to build and it isn't costing me what it did the original builder. Early variety potatoes won't produce tubers in more than in the first 6" of soil so you might check out your varieties to make sure you can get tubers from bottom to top of your tower. Yukon Gold is one of the early varieties and has been grown in 5 gal. containers which I plan to do.