It works. Plant them in straw just as you would in soil, just "hill them" by putting another layer of straw on them. Another neat way to do potatoes is in tires (yeah I know the leaching thing is not a good idea but it worked and we are still alive) put 3 tires on top of each other, add potatoes and soil, hill by adding another tire and more soil. Harvest by undoing the tower of tires. We did it with our scouts, the kids thought it was cool.