The fun of trash can potatoes!
Experience the fun of trash can gardening with Janice Stillman, Editor of The Old Farmer’s 蜜桃恋人. Potatoes can take up too much room in small gardens, so planting in a large container is a great way to go! See steps to growing potatoes in a trash can.
If you’d like to grow potatoes but don’t want to devote an entire garden bed to them, try growing in containers! Trash cans are deep enough containers for potatoes so they’re the perfect solution.
When to Plant Potatoes
Tradition holds that potatoes should be planted near St. Patrick’s Day for a successful harvest.There’s some truth to the old wives鈥 tale about planting potatoes on St. Patrick’s. It’s not necessarily about the exact date of March 17, but in the fact that planting in March will result in higher yields.
How to Plant Potatoes in a Trash Can
- Order or buy 鈥渟eed potatoes鈥 which are not seeds but tiny potatoes. For beginners, we recommend starting out by growing the smaller new potatoes. The mid or late-season varieties are better choices than early-season types.
- Drill holes in the bottom of the trash can for drainage.
- Set your trash can in a place that gets 4 to 6 hours of sunlight every day.
- Fill the can with half compost and half 鈥渟oilless鈥 potting mix to the trash can. Do NOT use real soil in container growing. If you want to cut back on how much soil you add, you could put recycled water jugs in the bottom. Just make sure you have at least 2 to 3 feet of soil with a 10 to 15 gallon capacity.
- About 24 hours in advance, prepare the seed potatoes. This is called 鈥渃hitting.鈥 Plant small potatoes can be planted whole, but larger ones should be cut into smaller pieces with at least 3 鈥渆yes鈥 (or dimples) per piece. Then allow the cut edges to air dry before planting.
- Bury the seed potatoes about 4 inches under the potting mix/compost about a foot apart. We plant four seed potatoes in each 32-gallon trash can.
- Water the plants and keep the soil moist but not soggy.
- As the plants grow, you have to keep their stems covered, and have extra potting mix to cover or 鈥渕ound鈥 over the stems so they are not exposed to sunlight. (Leave leaves exposed!)
- When the potatoes are ready to harvest, you dig into the trash can and pull out a sample. Then you can simply turn over the can onto a tarp and harvest your goodies!
To learn how to plant and grow potatoes, see our free Potato Guide.
Catherine Boeckmann
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Figure on around a couple of鈥攎aybe a few鈥攑ounds, Mike, if everything goes according to plan.
Can you do this same technique for sweet potatoes ?
Hi, Jodie,
We have not attempted to grow sweet potatoes in a container or in the ground for that matter. Sweets are not related to white, or "Irish" potatoes. They are native to tropical Central and South America and need a lot of heat (not guaranteed here in New Hampshire). Sweets prefer sandy soil that must be kept moist, esp in the first 2 to 3 weeks after planting. They have an extensive root system that would be inhibited by a container. We hope this helps!
Hi Jodie, yes you can grow sweet potatoes in a container. I live in Tennessee and last year just for giggles I tried to grow them in a chicken wire container lined with straw. The sweet potatoes that I harvested where huge. I wish I had a pic to show
I have two big plastic barrels in which I planted my potatoes in, however I have lots of big hanging over leaves but very few flowers. My question is will potatoes make good even if they don't flower?
Last year my family grew potatoes in a three foot tall box with miracle grow. Worked well got a great crop of medium sized potatoes.That all so tasted great.
Is it safe to grow them in sawdust???
We can't recommend using sawdust as a growing matter. We've never done it and we can't find a reliable source that has. Here is a story in "Chicago Livestock World" from April 24, 1906 (yes, that's 1906) that describes some success:
http://idnc.library.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/illinois?a=d&d=CLW19060424.2.31
Take from it what you will. But remember that sawdust could be fraught with problems: acidity [think pine] or other composition, as well as age/freshness.
We suggest that an easy, fun experimental way to grow potatoes is in a straw (not hay) bale. Here are two links to 蜜桃恋人.com for advice on doing that:
http://www.almanac.com/blog/everything-almanac-blog/forget-soil-use-straw
And here:
http://www.almanac.com/blog/gardening-blog/straw-turns-gold
We hope this helps.
I am from Idaho planting potatoes in a tall laundry basket that has lots of holes but going to weed block all around the sides so dirt will not leak out but still have air and drainage
I am going to try a new way of planting potatoes this year. You put newspaper down about 5 or 6 thick, put your potatoes down and cover with peat moss. Then you water them. When potatoes come up you keep adding peat moss until about 10 to 12 inches deep. When potatoes are dried you can harvest, no digging. A couple in their 70's told me this is the way they grow their potatoes. They get about a 100 pounds out of 10 pounds.
