Doona I too usually use shop potatoes and find they do just as well as seed potatoes, though there are lots on the forum who are strongly against this due to the risk of introducing viruses.
Mine are grown on a bed of compost then covered THICKLY with straw & more compost if I have any to spare. As they grow I keep adding more straw & compost until the leaves start to wilt & brown. Then you can pull the rotted straw away to find the spuds underneath.
This method works well for me & the spuds come out nice & clean. It is important to keep it all moist though (think how well they do in Ireland)
At the end of the season you're left with a thick layer of organic matter to grow something else in.
Whereabouts in NSW are you? If it's hot the tyre method may not work as they do get very hot & dry in those stacks.

I'm on the south coast NSW. Yes I think the tires could have got too hot as it was summer when I last tried that method. I'd forgotten about that.
Today I was moving a garden bed and found dome potatoes that were from an old spud I'd thrown in the soil months ago. See, I did it again! I had totally forgotten I'd planted it and had since pulled out the plant as it looked like a weed (the garden bed was unused and overgrown with weeds). It was a nice surprise though. But true to form, there were only a few, but at least one was a good size this time.

In regards to the second paragraph above, I of course meant I found SOME potatoes, not DOME potatoes. You probably realised that but when I saw the mistake I thought you might have thought I had strangely shaped spuds.

Hi Doona

The reason why it is recommended not to use store bought potatoes is because they are sprayed to stop sprouting. I use store bought potatoes as seed when I cant buy that variety as seed potatoes. Grow the store bought ones and then use their potatoes for next years seed, you should get better results

Helen

If I'm going to grow them from the potatoes I buy in the shop I tend to only use organic ones. Usually I save one or two especially for that purpose. They seem to work pretty well - normally I get quite a good crop from them.

LOL! That really gave me a giggle! I love typos...

Helen I don't think the reason they recommend one not to plant the store bought ones is because they have been sprayed to stop sprouting...why would you eat them (or why would you not use them if you are happy to eat them)...the spray (when it is used) will only retard the sprouting and not prevent it from happening
Actually you can plant just the potato peel with the eyes and they will grow
The reason (as far as I can determine) is because there is a risk of virus spread from non tested seed potatoes...the ones (seed potatoes) grown for seed are done so on on farms tested to be safe from viruses
The concern is that if people start to swap seed around then a virus can spread into areas not already infected and a nearby farmer might catch the virus and this would reduce the number of safe farms and put the market at risk
If your soil has a high level of decomposing organic matter in it then you run little risk of contracting these virus' because the mycchorizae in your soil act as a defence force and deal with these virus' etc..
cheers
Peter

Hi Peter

thanks for the info about virus' on potatoes. I do find that if I want to grow some potatoes that I cant find seed potatoes for, I just have to grow the ones from the shop...
I havent seen seed potatoes for pink fir or blue congo

Helen