Dad would have us cut potatoes the night before planting so that each piece had three “eyes” and the cut sides had time to dry. He just tilled the plot, turning weeds under as “green manure” and we laid the potato pieces in rows with the eyes on top, and then covered them with a few inches of straw, not dirt.
We then ignored the plot all summer as they grew and when the plants died back it was time to take a fork and dig the potatoes up. There were ground hog holes around the patch but if they ate any potatoes there was no way to tell... they did eat the weeds. Our yields were much more than we could store and give away, so we left a lot in the ground untouched for the wild animals in winter. All winter long the deer would visit the potato patch and fertilize the ground for the following year’s crop.
That story would make a good chapter in a children’s book.