Gardening 101: Planting Potatoes in a Container
ByIf you have limited garden space…planting your potatoes in a container is a fun option. I’ll be planting potatoes both in my garden and in a container, just so that we can have as many potatoes as possible!
There are a variety of ways to plant potatoes in a container. For me, the easiest way is to use an old rubbermaid garbage container. (Hint: remove garbage first.)
Here are the simple steps:
- Poke or drill several holes in bottom of garbage can.
- Scoop about one foot of soil into the container.
- Push five whole seed potatoes into the soil, spread apart evenly.
- Make sure the potatoes are completely covered by about two inches of soil.
- Water the seed potatoes.
- Sit patiently and wait for them to grow. You may want to take up knitting.
- Once the plants have grown to 7-8 inches in height…scoop more soil into the container. The soil level should be about three inches from the top of the plants.
- Water the plants as needed. As soon as the plants begin to flower, be sure to water generously and consistently.
- Each time the plants reach 7-8 inches above the soil level, scoop more soil into the container, maintaining the soil at three inches from the top of the plants.
- At the end of the summer, dump out the contents of your container (which will, by that time, weigh approximately 368.4 pounds). Dig all around the dumped out soil and gather potatoes.
- Jump and cheer each time you find a potato. Have an “I found the biggest potato, neener, neener, neener” competition.
- Go make mashed potatoes.
Don’t ask me how many potatoes you’ll be able to grow using this method. I’ve read that you can grow several pounds of them. Last year when I first tried doing this, I didn’t do a very good job of continuing to fill my container with soil like I was supposed to…therefore I didn’t have a very high yield. This year…I’m planning to do better!
By the way, with the exception of poking the holes in my container (because I had done that already last year)…this process took only ten minutes. That included digging up soil, planting, watering…and yes…stopping to take a few picture. (Wonder what my neighbors were thinking? Weird lady. Takes pictures of her dirt and trash cans. Weird, weird lady.)
A few more things you might be wondering about…
How should I poke holes in my container? Well…I had the kids stand back while I went to town with a pitch fork. But a much safer and more effective way is to use a drill.
What kind of soil should I put into my container? I dug up some good soil from the compost area in our backyard. You can use packaged soil from the store…but keep in mind that you’ll need quite a bit. I remember being surprised last year with how many bags of soil it took.
Does my container need to have the left-side handle missing? No. Your potaoes will grow just fine in a container that has both handles attached.
Will you show us updates on your blog as your potato plants grow? Absolutely!
Will I get dirt under my fingernails? Yes. When you push the seed potatoes under the soil, you will get dirty. But don’t worry. It will feel good. You’ll feel like a good farmer. You’ll feel like you’re working hard to feed your family. You’ll feel like you accomplished oodles of work because you got dirty. (Don’t tell anyone it took ten minutes.)
Oh…be proud of those dirty fingernails! See…I was so proud of mine I took a picture for you. (Weird, weird lady)
Do any of you have experience planting potatoes in a container? Any of you planning to give it a try this year? Anybody want to send me a picture of your dirty fingernails?
I am just starting to grow potatoes. I got the trashcan, the dirt, and I am adding Perulate (sp?) like Vermiculite. I will drill holes in the bottom and a few inches up the side from the bottom of the can. I found seed potatoes in the Lowe’s Hardware store in the garden section (I was surprised, I thought I had to order pounds of them via the internet). One question I have is, I heard 2 different instructions from different places about adding the additional dirt later. One sources says cover up the plants, others say add dirt but leave several inches of the plants showing. Which is best? Anyone try one way or the other and have bad results? Does a dark colored can do better holding heat? Do the potato plants get enough light down in the can?
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Laura Reply:
March 2nd, 2010 at 12:21 pm
I’ve just heard to add soil up to a couple inches below the top of the plant. They grow REALLY quickly though, so you really have to watch them!
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I love this idea. We weren’t going to try potatoes because we didn’t have the room Thanks for the tip!
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Genious! Great post and lots of helpful information. Thank you :)
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I was adding dirt every couple days!!! Man it grows. Now I ran out of container space but the plant is still growing bigger and bigger! Will it stop? Should I stop watering? While the plant is still growing should I harvest? I heard some varieties have flowers, I don’t see any. Mine are Burbank Russett variety.
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Laura Reply:
April 22nd, 2010 at 7:09 pm
It will keep growing and spill over the top, but that’s okay! Let it stay in the pot and KEEP WATERING until the plant withers and dies, which could be a while! As long as the plant is alive, the potatoes will continue to grow.
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wonderful post.. I tried this last year without poking the holes. it was a bucket of muck. so this time i will do better…
I have some potatoes that are a little floppy and well “eyed”. so this is a great. I had told my 2, 3 and 5 year old a couple of days ago, to just plant them in the leftover dirt I had (read my the half of my garden that i just haven’t gotten to yet)… They buried one and then just rested the remaining on top of the dirt. Since squirrels already cruise my yard and eye my garden, I just tossed them into the composter instead of teaching those rodents that my garden was an “all you can eat diner, come back again tomorrow”.
I think I am inspired enough to get a drill and pull those potatoes out of the composter..
Thanks!
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This is so cool!! I can’t wait to try it.
I always wanted to do potatoes but didn’t want to give up the precious garden space. I will make this a homeschool/daycare project. I have an cruddy, old trash can that keeps getting in my way – I was going to get rid of it, but you can’t put a trash can out for the trash – it never gets picked up!! LOL! I now have a use for it – Thanks!
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I need to find an old trashcan now! I planted 1 potato in a washed out, cut milk jug mainly because I thought it would be interesting to see what it does- I hadn’t read anything on how to grow potatoes! So I might transplant it and see if we can get some grown!
how big should the trashcan be? At least the size of the one pictured?
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My mother-in-law says that she has heard good things about planting potatoes in tires. When harvest time rolls around, there is virtually no digging involved.
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Do you know if this works with sweet potatoes?
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Laura Reply:
May 26th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Yes, I believe it does!
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I got some old trash cans from freecycle with holes already torn into the bottom. I’m excited about not having to dig potatoes. I’ve also read that once you’ve made the initial start with potatoes in the soil, you can just put hay/straw over the growing vine and it will continue to set potatoes, dirt free. You can do this in old tires but consider if you really want all the chemicals from old tires leaching into the soil and your potatoes.
Sweet potatoes will grow in a container in dirt as described in the post. They won’t grow well or set in the straw method that I mentioned above.
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We don’t have organic seed potatoes but are using some of our organic regular potatoes that are starting to grow the eyes. Does this matter do you know?
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Laura Reply:
May 27th, 2010 at 10:03 am
You can just plant your organic regular potatoes. I’ve have success with doing this before.
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I went searching for new potatoes today (potatoes were planted on April 12, 2010) and found not one tuber. Why is that? I want to plant a fall crop in early August and would like to know how can I prevent this from happening again?
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Laura Reply:
July 14th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
WOW, I don’t know! Did your plant have blossoms on it? If there are blossoms, there should be potatoes.
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I’m not much of a gardener. I tried growing tomatoes in those upside-down hanging planters on my deck and killed them all! This, however, sounds like something even I could do (maybe).
Does it matter what time of year the potatoes are planted? (I always thought you had to plant potatoes in winter) It’s generally about 95 degrees here in the summer. Too hot?? Too late??
PS your instructions were very entertaining!
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Laura Reply:
July 20th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
You usually plant potatoes in the spring when it’s cooler, then they need some sun during the summer to help them grow. 95 degrees isn’t too hot, as long as you give them plenty of water. Now is probably too late to let them have enough growing time. :(
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Deann Reply:
July 20th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
I figured it was too late. But this will be good to know for next year! I ran across your site quite by accident, and I’m glad I did. There is so much helpful info here!
Thank You!!
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