Growing Potatoes In Containers
Written by Monkeyfister on April 12, 2008 – 3:20 pm -My online friend Ke Xu, from the LATOC Forum has motivated me to try planting Potatoes In Large Containers.
I am going to plant up some Pontiac Red Potatoes, and see how they do. I like New Potatoes, and Pontiac Reds are pretty good Early-Season keepers.
First off, I ordered the seed potatoes from The Potato Garden. They still have PLENTY of seed stock, so go and order some! Mine came in a few weeks ago. They are starting to send out obvious shoots, and I am ready to get started on them. DO NOT use store-bought potatoes that are putting out eyes– they are more likely to rot, or harbor diseases– get Certified (Organic) Seed Potatoes.
Here’s what you do.
First, get the BIGGEST damned containers you can get. Mine are GIANT 3′ tall and 3′ wide things that one could easily plant a tree into. Make SURE the container has drainage holes in the bottom.
Two to four days before you plant the seed potatoes, grab the bag o’ seed spuds, and a sheet of cardboard, or a shallow box, like a paper box lid, or an old screen, and a sharp knife.
Identify the eyes of the potato, and slice them off– leaving at least a 1/4-inch to a 1/2-inch of potato “meat” for each eye– this is where the sugar/energy comes from for the new plant. Each potato will have 3-4 eyes. As you cut the potato slices, place them meat up so that air gets to them. Let them sit for those two to four days. A thick, grey scab will for over the white flesh. You WANT this. It keeps disease away from the seed wedge, and helps in healthy growth.
Now, place about four inches of good soil in the bottom of the container. Lay your spud wedges EYE UP in the soil surface every 9 inches around the edge, and as many in the middle to allow that 9″ spacing, and cover with 3-4 inches of soil. Put them in a sunny place, give ‘em some water, and let them grow, providing some water every couple of days. Yes– you’ll have two feet of container to fill up– that comes later. Place some screen, or some floating row cover over the top of the container to keep bugs away.
As the potato plants grow about four inches above the soil, add another 3 inches of straw and soil– two inches of straw, and cover with one inch of soil so that just the top inch of plant is showing, and then water. Keep doing this until the tops of the plants peek out above the top of the container, adding soil as the straw compacts. Add another 3 inches of straw and soil, and then plant in BUSH BEAN seeds in the spaces between the plant tops. The Bush Beans keep the Potato Beetle away, and the Potatoes keep the Bean Beetle away– clever, eh? That’s the miracle of Companion Gardening!
Now, all you do is keep watering every couple of days, and wait until the potato plants brown out on top. When that happens, you’ll probably have a fine little harvest of Bush Beans– you can wait until the beans are ready– the spuds below will be fine, and you’ll have plenty of compostables. Harvest the beans, put all the foliage in the compost pile, and then turn out the entire container on to a tarp, and harvest your spuds. You’ll be amazed at what has been going on under that soil surface. You should end up with somewhere between a half-bushel to a bushel of potatoes from a 3′x3′ container.
You can do the same thing with old tires (free from any tire place– drill the sides out for better drainage, and to keep mosquitoes from using the tires as breeding water). Or you can build a bunch of 3′x3′ wood frames out of 2″x6″. I just don’t want a pile of old tires sitting around my yard.
Here’s the IMPORTANT deal with potatoes, and the soil in which they grow– you MUST NOT re-plant potatoes in the same soil for at least 3 years, with a four year rotation the best. Disease is GUARANTEED if you do. So, tip that soil into your compost pile, and turn it in. The containers shouldn’t re-grow potatoes for at least a season– I’ll recommend using those containers as composters for the rest of the season. Just toss your compostables into the containers, and when they are full, tip them into the larger pile, and turn it in.
There are several types of potatoes– Early Season, Mid-Season, and Late Season. Plant them all at the same time– the difference is how fast they grow. The Potato Garden has plenty of good advice on potatoes to choose.
Enjoy and Good Luck!
Posted in Environment, Farming & Homesteading, Food, Gardening, Urban Gardening |
13 Comments
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Dude! Timely post — I’ll be planting potatoes next weekend and, thanks to your last post, had already decided to do it in containers.
Thanks!
Btw, I’m editing to add the “Read more” thingie.
I just cannot figure out that “Read More” Thing– a quick primer would be a great help, as I keep screwing up this post every time I try to use that widget. I’ve probably just erased your editing… I’m still learning the hard way… Sorry to keep you toiling! Cut it below “Here’s what you do”…
Thanks again. I’ll figure it out with repetition.
–mf
The diary writing thingie is a little weird. I can only get it to work perfectly using Netscape Navigator - but I’m on an ancient Macintosh, so I suppose I shouldn’t complain.
Besides, it looks like my attempt didn’t help much. Argh!
Still, this is a great diary - and, like I said, very timely. I plant potatoes next week!
Good luck, Brother!
If you follow that second link, you’ll see how it all works with pictures and everything. Ke Xu is a really enthusiastic amateur Permaculturist/Gardener, and is only just starting, so, he is a GREAT example to follow along for our good readers’ beginning journeys.
He’s got it rough, as he’s enriching existing soil, which is FILLED with rocks and clay, instead of doing raised beds, and building soil above the existing dirt. Back-breaking, but, rewarding. It’s been really cool seeing how he’s gone from a teeny-tiny garden to something much bigger.
His site is: http://backtowilderness.blogspot.com
Go give him some encouragement, everyone– I am his only commenter!
BTW– there is NOTHING that cannot be grown in containers. Just pick your containers to fit the plant you want to grow– Carrots need something a bit deeper, Tomatoes need a five gallon pot, grow cukes out of window box containers, and make a frame so the cukes can grow up strings– same thing with pole beans, and other vining things like squashes. Heck– grow cantaloupes in the same way– use old nylons or rags to make a “basket” to support the fruit.
Just mind the “THIN TO” spacing on the seed packet, and plant the seeds to that spacing.
–mf
OMG, he’s in the same situation I’m in.
We like to call ourselves rock farmers here.
I’ve compensated by doing a combination lasagna and square foot style gardening with raised beds here and there.
Trying to plant trees is the real test, though. I use a hammer and spike, and inevitably hit a boulder in the very spot I want the tree.
I’ll definitely check his site out. And it sounds ike a good one to add to the blogroll!
Don’t worry about the read more thinghy.
This is a great addition, I love diaries about planting. Ms AAF does most of the gardening and she will be chuffed by your piece today!
In Sydney I grew beans and tomatoes in wooden wine boxes I collected from our restaurant. I grew an impressive array of herbs as well. Once I caught my little boy, who was two at the time, talking and singing to the boxes. He thought it made it grow bigger. He wasn’t far form the truth!
I’ve bookmarked Ke Xu’s blog and will visit him to morrow. He’s got some interesting stuff on his site.
Ke Xu’s posts at the LATOC Forum as as cute and energetic, and motivating as can be!
–mf
Would he, if we asked him nicely, cross-post here?
I’d HOPE So!
–mf
I went there today and read 4 of his posts. Tremendous energy and lots of good hints. I take it he lives in Manhattan and commutes to PA on the weekends.
I really enjoy his site. Very, very nice.
And yours - great link list and I can tell I’d love the posts but it’s one of the blogspot blogs that makes my browser crash.
not happy!