The potato seeds I bought last month have started to sprout and it’s time to get them planted in the outdoor container. You can plant potatoes in rows in your garden but a barrel, trash can, or other container takes up a lot less space and I read it helps prevent potato bugs and fungus issues. The potato seed box said you can even stack old tires to make a potato planter. A can or barrel is handy because you can dump out the potatoes in the fall instead of digging. It won’t be too heavy if you use peat moss along with compost as you fill the barrel. You can even use sawdust, but I’d only do that in a tall container that won’t attract neighborhood stray cats.
First you cut the seed potatoes in chunks that each have a couple of eyes in them. You can see that I used different varieties of potatoes. Lay out the cut seeds so the side where you cut dries and forms a skin over it – overnight is fine but I set mine in the sun. Put some compost in the bottom of your barrel. Make sure you drilled some holes in the bottom so the seeds never sit in water. Stick the potatoes in the compost with the cut side down and side with the most sprouts facing up. Even though the directions on the seed box said to plant them 18″ apart, I put the much closer. I’ve met people before who grow potatoes and said they don’t worry much about spacing.
Cover with 4-6 inches of soil and then water to wet through. Next you wait until the plant comes up and you have at least a few inches of leaves above the soil, then you add more soil to cover the plants. Keep them damp but not wet. As the plants continue to keep growing up through the top of the soil, you keep covering them. Meanwhile, they’re growing potatoes all the way up to the top of your container. More pictures to come as the potato plants grow!
