Growing potatoes in containers is easy, rewarding and most of all it will allow you to overcome the space problem since you can place the container anywhere you want.
It’s not that hard to grow a hundred pounds of potatoes, and once you read the steps, you’ll be surprised just how easy it is.
What could be better than unearthing handsome nuggets of potato from a chocolate-brown soil? It’s the epitome of the grow-your-own experience, an irresistible representation of everything that’s wholesome about growing good food at home. Personally I wouldn’t be without my annual crop of spuds. Straightforward to grow and yielding buckets full of tubers, the potato crop is easily my most eagerly anticipated moment of the kitchen gardening year.
Needless to say not everyone has the space to devote to this often rambunctious vegetable. With rows requiring a leg-stretching 45cm (18in) between them, a few bags of seed potatoes hanging invitingly on the garden centre shelves can soon turn into a space-planning headache. Surely just one more bag of spuds can be fitted in somewhere? Don’t count on it!
Benefits to Growing Potatoes in Containers
No Soil Contamination
Since you are using fresh potting soil, you don’t have to worry about crop rotation, soil-born diseases, or pests left over from the previous growing season.
Containers can be placed anywhere
The containers easy to care for and can be placed on your patio, balcony, or in any spot in your yard that receives full sun.
Easy harvest
Harvesting the potatoes is easier than digging, and there is less chance of damaging the tubers with a digging fork or shovel. Instead of digging you just dump out the pot and there they are!
Potatoes are protected from soil pests
The container shields the potatoes from rodents and other pests in the garden soil. If you have a problem with moles, gophers, voles, or chipmunks tunneling through your garden and eating your tubers beneath the soil, growing potatoes in containers is your solution. It also protects from wire worms, grubs, and other pests.
How to Grow Potatoes in a Container
Plant your potatoes after all danger of frost has passed. Make a free draining soil mixture and mix in a handful of time-release fertilizer. Fill the container 4 inches (10 cm.) deep with the previously moistened medium.
Cut the seed potatoes into 2-inch (5 cm.) chunks that have several eyes on them. Small potatoes can be planted as they are. Plant the chunks 5 to 7 inches apart and cover them with 3 inches (7.6 cm.) of moist soil. Cover container potatoes with more soil after they grow 7 inches (18 cm.) and continue to cover the small plants until you reach the top of the bag. Container potatoes should be kept well watered but not soggy.
Fertilizing
Potatoes are not heavy feeders, thus applying a natural fertilizer is enough. Well-rotted manure and compost are sufficient to provide your potatoes with the nutrients they need to grow. However, for optimum growth, you could apply an organic liquid fertilizer. You shouldn’t fertilize your plants more than once a month.
Potatoes need a lot of potassium to grow. Therefore, you should avoid applying too much nitrogen fertilization to them. Nitrogen fertilizers will promote foliage growth rather than potato growth.
Harvesting
When the leaves are yellow and you start seeing blooms, you can start harvesting your potatoes. Don’t wait too long to harvest otherwise you will be harvesting dry potatoes.
This is how to grow potatoes in containers successfully. Follow these steps and you will enjoy a heavy yield of sweet delicious potatoes.