Things You'll Need:
- Old potatoes from the bottom of your pantry
- A large container, trash can, bucket or tub
- Soil, top soil, even compost is good
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Step 1
Potato Chunks thePrepare the potato “seeds”. Cut old, over-ripened potatoes into chunks around 1-4 inches thick/wide. Ensure that each “chunk” has a potato eye on it. The potato “eye” is where the potato plant has, or will, sprout from the potato. Lay these potatoes out for several hours or even a day, to let the outside of the potatoes “callus”.
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Step 2
Large Container Used in This ProjectThe potato box can be made from any large container with drainage. In this project, we used a very large Rubbermaid® container after drilling several holes into the bottom for drainage.
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Step 3
Dump a mixture of potting soil, compost, and top soil into your container. Fill your container about a third of the way up. Plant the potato “seeds” about four inches under the soil, and give them three or four inches spacing.
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Step 4
Potato Box Growing Like Crazy!Growing potatoes like water, but be careful not to over water these, depending on the drainage you have in your container. After the plants are about three inches tall, cover them again with a mix of potting soil, compost and topsoil, completely covering the plants. You can continue this process until you have run out of container. It is probably a good idea to stop a couple of inches below the top of your container to facilitate watering and potato growth.
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Step 5
If you use a container with removable sides, you can harvest the potatoes from the bottom as the plant continues to grow. If not, you should harvest your potatoes after the plants are a couple of feet tall. Your potatoes on the bottom will mature first, and begin to spoil if you do not harvest them.
Comments
esatchel said
on 9/20/2009 I grew potatoes in an old barrel this summer for the first time. It worked perfectly. Great instructions!