How to Grow Potatoes in a Container - Easier than you think!

Trust me, growing potatoes, particularly in a container, is easier than you think!

You should have a plate of delicious potatoes with butter melting all over them, just 2-3 months after planting.

There really is nothing like the taste of homegrown potatoes, especially the first potatoes of the season. These are called ‘first earlies’, which simply means the first of the year.

Sometimes gardening jargen can be off-putting, making you think that gardening is much more difficult than it really is.

Contrary to what you may think, you don’t actually need special equipment to grow your own. You mainly need some compost or soil, some seeds or plants, and if you’re not planting directly into the ground, some sort of container.

This can be saved containers that you’ve bought something else in, or with potatoes, even a large strong plastic bag, like the ones you buy compost in – waste not, want not!

So let’s get down to business!

Choosing Seed Potatoes

Well this is just down to personal preference. Although I would recommend you choose first or second ‘earlies’. I don’t think you can beat the taste of homegrown new potatoes.

Over the years I’ve grown main crop, but I didn’t think they tasted any different to shop bought varieties.

I have grown an unusual looking salad potato a few times, called ‘Anya’, they are very knobbly and would be great for entering your local produce show, in the ‘strange veg’ section. They taste deliciously nutty.

I now grow purple potatoes, from a company called Patch, which certainly aren’t going to be every bodies ‘cup of tea’, but they taste divine, with the added benefit of extra nutrients.

What you will need:

Egg Carton for Chitting
Seed Potatoes
A Large Pot or Large Strong Plastic Bag. Either will need drainage holes
A Large Bag of Compost, Soil or Well Rotted Manure
Regular Water

Chitting your Seed Potatoes

You don’t have to chit your potatoes, but it’s highly advisable as you get stronger shoots. It simply means encouraging little shoots to appear from the buds or eyes, as most gardeners refer to them.

I’m sure you’ve all experienced your shop bought potatoes sprouting before you can eat them, yes? Well there you are, you’ve already chitted before!

Examine your seed potatoes for eyes (buds), they are little white dots.

Place them in your saved egg box or boxes, placing the side that has the most little eye buds facing upwards.

It wants to be a bright, cool spot, but certainly not anywhere that will get frosty. A window sill, in a cool room is ideal.

It takes approximately 4 weeks for the little shoots to get to around an inch long. This is now ideal, but you do need to wait for the worst of the frost to be over.

If the weather is misbehaving and your potatoes look ready to go, move them to a cooler place.

How to Plant your Potatoes

If you haven’t already made drainage holes in your pot or bag, do this now. Potatoes love plenty of water, but they don’t want to stand in it!

Assemble what you need.

Place the container or containers, in their permanent position for growing, before you start. You don’t want to disturb the seed potatoes once they are planted, plus it will be quite heavy once full!

You need to put them somewhere reasonably sunny, getting at least half a day of sunshine.

Add around 15-20cm or 6-8″ of compost to the container.

Place the potatoes a good hand span apart, with the most chit’s facing upwards.

Note: If you put too many seed potatoes into a container, it won’t do any harm, but it will result in smaller potatoes when you harvest them.

Cover the potatoes with compost filling the container, leaving enough space at the top for watering.

I used to just cover the potatoes with compost, adding more as the shoots broke ground, but after advise from other gardeners ( we’re always learning!), I now fill the container straight away. – Easier and just as successful!

I always put an old plastic drinks bottle into the middle of the container, to help get water directly to the potatoes. See image below, for how to do this.

After just a couple of weeks, you’ll notice leaves appearing.

After a couple of months they should be fully grown.

At this point you can start to have a little feel in the container to see what’s there. If you feel quite a number of decent sized potatoes you can tip the whole lot out, but I prefer to just take what I want that day. You can carefully pull one plant out at a time.

If the leaves still look good, you can carry on watering and the potatoes will continue to grow, but if you stop, they will just sit there happily waiting for you.