A Fun and Easy Way to Grow Potatoes In A Pot

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Looking for a space-saving solution for growing potatoes? Try growing potatoes in non-traditional containers. Follow these steps for a successful harvest.

Potatoes In A Nutshell And A Recycling Bin!

Growing your pot potatoes is easy, and you don’t have to use a traditional barrel, pot, or pail. You can do what I did.

Pot-growing potatoes are a great way to have home-grown organic potatoes even if you are short on space to garden.

Growing my potatoes in a blue recycle bin this year was a new and fun experience.

Having a horticultural background, potato plants are nothing new to me, but finally, having some time to dedicate to my garden, I want to grow as much as possible in as little space as possible.

As my property does not have a traditional in-ground garden and is nowhere near ready for one, I used as many containers as possible this summer.

Types Of Ontario Potatoes To Grow

How To Grow Potatoes In A Pot Or Container

Propagation of potatoes can be done either by true seeds, planting a piece of an actual potato (also referred to as planting by seed), or by rooting a cutting from a potato plant.

These methods can be done at home using little space while saving you some money in your grocery budget.

Potatoes can be grown successfully in a traditional garden or a container garden.

They can be grown year-round in milder climates, providing a harvest that can easily be replenishable.

You can use pieces of potatoes from a previous crop to propagate your next crop.

This summer, I decided to grow my potatoes in a recycling bin in my backyard, but you can also use fabric grow bags.

I am thrilled with how well my crop grew this year, and I didn’t have to dig around in a lot of dirt to harvest them!

Next year, though, I may use a garbage can, allowing more room for them to grow and possibly a much bigger yield. 

I may plant a second recycling bin as it does not take up much space and is easy to find.

Filling two recycling bins may not require as much potting soil as a garbage which will keep my costs down, I will have to figure that out.

How To Plant Potatoes In A Container, Pot Or Barrel

1. Like all plants, proper soil selection is essential. ‘Dirt’ should never be used in containers; it makes the container too heavy and does not drain well. Potatoes like loose soil, and adequate moisture makes potting soil ideal as it is very porous, giving it a high water-holding capacity while being a light, loose-growing medium.
2. Fill only part of your container with potting soil; I filled approximately 1/3 of the recycling bin. Plant your seed, plant, or piece of potato.
3. If using a piece of potato, ensure it has at least one or two eyes.
4. As the plant grows and you start to see potatoes showing at the soil surface, hill them up by adding more soil to the container to fully cover them up. Continue doing this throughout your plant’s growth until you can no longer fill the container.
5. I staked my plants to keep them off the ground as they grew large and fell over.
6. Water frequently, and don’t forget to fertilize.
7. When the plant begins to yellow and looks like it’s starting to die, it’s time to harvest. Please don’t wait too long, or they may rot.

As you can see in the picture above, I harvested some nice-looking organic potatoes this week.

They tasted much better than store-bought, and they came right out of my backyard.

Eating something so tasty that I grew at home was rewarding, but it took no money out of my grocery budget.

Crop Rotation For Potatoes

Rotating where you choose to plant is very important for potatoes.

Garden plants should not be consecutively planted in the exact location where another member of the same plant family was previously planted.

For example, potatoes are in the same family as tomatoes, so they should not be planted where tomatoes were previously grown.

Planting the same crop in the same location will attract more pests and diseases and deplete the soil with all the nutrients required from the previous year’s harvest.

As not all plants require the same nutrients, switching up plant families allows the soil to replenish itself as different plants add different nutrients.

Changing the potting soil is much easier in containers than in a garden.

Spud Nutrition

Did you know that the United Nations declared 2008 as the year of the potato?

The UN are referring to the potato as a ‘hidden treasure’.

By declaring 2008 the Year of the Potato, they hoped to raise awareness of their nutritional benefits, primarily in developing countries.

Potatoes are most known for their carbohydrate content. Still, they also provide us with vitamin C, potassium, vitamin B6, and trace amounts of thiamin, riboflavin, folate, niacin, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc.

If prepared with the skins, they are also a source of fiber and only lack two essential vitamins, A and D.

Potatoes offer a lot of nutrition, but like most things, they are not for everyone and every diet.

Being high on the glycemic index, they are not a good fit for a low GI diet, and being high in starch, they should be eaten in moderation for a diabetic diet.

Trial And Error In The Garden

Growing your potatoes in a pot at home doesn’t have to be complicated or require hours of digging in the dirt.

If you do, try it; you have nothing to lose, potatoes to gain, and lots of them.

Discussion: Have you ever grown potatoes in a pot or container?

Leave your tips for other home gardeners in the comments.

Thanks for reading,

MR. CBB

Post Contribution: Katrina regularly contributes to Canadian Budget Binder and is as passionate about personal finance as gardening. Katrina is a horticulture graduate with over 10 years of experience with landscaping and greenhouse production.

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