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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Good luck with this, Sally! Let us know how you do. There really is nothing quite like homegrown, just dug spuds. All the best鈥
Good in theory but bad in practice. Plastic is toxic and growing anything in plastic is going to leech the petrol chemicals into your food. Especially using a black container that heats up more.
I've seen a similar technique but with chicken wire tied in a circle, you do the soil thing at the bottom and as it grows you put hay on top instead of soil.
I agree with the comment about the chemicals of the plastic can leaching into the potatoes. Now more than ever, it seems everything is coming from China and they are known to put harmful chemicals into things that are used even for consumption. I can only imagine what they would use to produce a garbage can. Horrible idea!
Hi Everybody !
Seems like Jimena was 5 years ahead of the 'awkward truth' about plastics . Now let 's focus on those plasticofagen bacterie and keep in control our own plasticconsumption - mind : two different things though ...
I live in a midwest climate and will be planting potatoes for the first time this year. I want to know if staggering 2 or 3 containers of potato plants--planting in one can the first week, 2nd can the 2nd week, etc., would be a good idea or do they all need to be planted at the same time. Potatoes don't last long in my house, but they don't keep very well for a long time.
Hello Karen,
I am not sure when you asked the question, but I can help with an answer about storage. In order for potatoes to be stored for several months, the skin must be thicker than new potatoes. To ensure a thicker skin, stop watering the plants once they turn yellow and start dying. Wait to harvest for 2 weeks after you stop watering to allow skins to thicken. If you live in a rainy area, like I do, cover the top of the cans when it's raining so the soil stays dry. If you want new potatoes, with thin skin, harvest one can and let the others dry out for 2 weeks. Then you can store potatoes in a cool dry place for upwards of 3 months.
As far as staggering the planting schedule, I am not sure, but would assume that this would merely decrease growing time, in turn, decreasing the yield.
-Tracy
i had extra wire cage and the I cut strips of gardening cloth and I wrapped the cylinder from top to bottom and covered the whole cage. Then I put in about ft and a half of miracle grow potting soil. Then i put in about four potato eyes and then put so more soul on top. First attempt at growing spuds. Good drainage and should breath alright. Now wait and see.
What are the ratios for the sand, soil, and compost?
We've never actually used a soil recipe. You want a lot of compost; good compost is almost all you need鈥攁nd lime, to achieve the proper pH (4.8鈥6.5)! If you have heavy, earthy soil you want to add sand to help the rain and applied water filter through; otherwise, you risk having mud and nothing can grow in mud.
You want loose, rich soil. So a lot of nutrient-rich compost, some soil to bind it together a little. And some sand to keep it loose. The proportions depend on how much soil you're mixing but figure...oh, say 10 percent sand and a rough split of the soil and compost. There is no exact formula. Thanks for your question and good luck!
In your reply, you say to use lime. However the video says to not use lime as potatoes do not like lime. Which is correct?
