I’m always surprised when I speak with people about their vegetable gardens, and I find out they haven’t ever tried to grow potatoes! “I just haven’t gotten around to it,” they’ll say, or “Aren’t they difficult to grow?” And they answer is NO! In fact, they’re one of the easiest plants to grow, in my opinion. So there’s no reason not to plant yourself some potatoes this spring – not even if you don’t have space for a garden!
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Growing potatoes in a container is simple and rewarding. Even a square foot of space on a balcony or patio can make a great home for a container of potatoes! So if you want to give it a try this year, here’s what you’ll need:
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- A large and tall garden pot (with drainage holes)
- Potting soil
- A potato seedling/start (or a seed potato)
Start by filling your pot with potting soil. Potatoes need quite a bit of room to grow downwards, so fill the whole thing with potting soil rather than using any sort of filler at the bottom of the pot.
Once your pot is filled to about an inch below the rim, dig an appropriately sized hole for the roots of your plant, or a small hole about 2″ deep for your seed potato. If you’re using a plant start, gently split the root of the plant with your fingers before planting, to encourage proper root growth.
Place your plant or seed in the hole, and fill around it with potting soil.
Once it’s planted, press gently around the surface of the soil to settle it a bit.
Water your pot thoroughly. During the growing season, make sure to the soil around your potato plant stays damp, but not saturated.
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In the fall, the foliage of your potato plant will start to wither and yellow. This means it’s time to harvest! Each potato plant can yield 5-8 potatoes. Serve them up in the fall for a very special and very delicious potato dinner for the family! :-)
potatoe peels? For real??
Well by now it should be pretty obvious that growing potatoes is pretty easy! The reason to let the cut potatoes dry for a day or two is to reduce the risk of the pieces rotting in the damp soil before they can root and take hold. The fewer “eyes” you plant, the higher the reason to let them dry out a little. Jillee, the problem I see with your method is that potatoes grow from those roots, and will bulge up out of the soil. Therefore, you need to keep adding soil to keep them covered. When you do… Read more »
If I was growing potatoes in a container, I’d put 2-4 inches of soil in the bottom, then put cut potato chunks (each chunk with 1-3 eyes) leaving 1-2 inches between each chunk and the container – room to grow, then layer on your soil up to about an inch above your chunks. Then as your potato plants appear (wait for 2-4 leaves to appear on several plants), layer on soil to half-to-one-inch above plant leaves. Continue this process through the summer until your pot is full of soil and plants, all the while keeping your soil evenly moist (but… Read more »
There are lots of successful methods for growing potatoes, thanks for the idea Gayle!
We used to plant from seed potatoes. One year that there was a bare space in the garden, my mom started planting potato peels as they were produced. We actually got more potatoes from the peeling plants, and they matured faster than the seed potatoes that were planted earlier.
Charlotte
I’ve grown potatoes so many different ways it amuses me to see someone say you cant do this or you cant do that.. You can toss your potatoes on the ground and cover them with hay or grass clippings and you will grow potatoes as long as you have enough water & sun to support them. I plant mine in a half barrel filled with potting soil.. and I plant them VERY thickly too.. We dont eat a lot of potatoes but we get about 3 or 4 gallons of new potatoes which is what Im after in the first… Read more »
One other thing… I dont cut my eyes from my mother plants.. I use the whole potato instead… Old timers did cut the eyes, usually making them at least an inch or two chunks… they also let the skin dry for a day before they planted them.. but its all just preference.. its not necessary.
Potatoes will not produce well when grown as outlined in this article. They do not set your crop of potatoes from the root, but rather from the stems between the root and the leaf tops. You would do much better to set your seed potato in a few inches of soil at the bottom, and as your pant grows fill in with more soil, or straw or sawdust gradually until the container was full. In the fall, after the plant has died down, just dump over the container and pick up your potato crop. You will get very few if… Read more »
If you plant cut pieces of the seed potato, make sure the “eye’s are to the sky” before topping off with soil!
i grow mine in laundry baskets and a base from old firepit~~ had loads of potatoes last year. Doing it again this year.
Sounds perfect!
You don’t even need to grow them in much soil. Just enough for the roots. I’ve grown them in a big black garbage bag and straw. The bag folds down so the plant can get lots of light and then as it grows you put in straw so that only the very top of the plant is showing. Potatoes will grow in the straw and they come out clean.
That’s a great idea Melissa, thanks :-)
If your seed potato is from the bin of potatoes in the produce section of your grocery store, you may not have much success in growing potatoes. I was told several years ago by the owner of a plant nursery that the potatoes headed to the produce section have been sprayed with something that slows down the growth of the ‘eyes’ for a longer shelf life. Seed potatoes that aren’t able to ‘get busy’ and start growing once they are planted could very well just rot away. Buy starter plants or seed potatoes from a nursery or other reputable seller… Read more »
Buy organic potatoes. You will be amazed at how quickly they sprout!
Great tip Rhonda, thanks for the info Sharoyn :-)
I have had success in planting potatoes from the market as i do wash all my fruits and vegetables. They grew beautifully and plentiful.. I even canned a load full for “new potatoes’!
How do you can potatoes?
I’ve heard this, too. One good reason to grow your own potatoes is that the ones we buy from the store are loaded with chemicals. Also, I have read that you should leave as much potato as you can with each eye because the plant uses it as nourishment while it is getting established. There is some debate as to whether you should let the cut potatoes sit out for a week to form a “skin” before you plant, to prevent rotting. Some say you’re better off getting it right into the ground. Sadly, I discovered last year that deer… Read more »
Question here: If we’ve decided to grow out an eye of a potato for an eventual plant how big should the eye piece be? I’m assuming the sprouting part is the eventual potatoes and should, therefore, be planted downwards?? I’ve got a potato working on a couple of eyes now and would eventually like to use that to grow more potatoes. Thanks in advance for your help.
It doesn’t have to be very big, maybe 1/4 to half inch? And you can plant the whole potato as long as it has 2-3 eyes on it :)
And it doesn’t matter how you plant it, they’ll grow the right way, but the sprouts will become the stalks and leaves.
The potato sprouts should face UP. they will become the stems and leaves, not the roots.
You want the eye facing upwards, growing towards the surface :-) The chunk size isn’t too important, just separate the multiple eyes into individual pieces!