Plant potatoes 2 weeks before last frost date. Put 4 inches of soil in the bottom of a 13-inch round container. Cut the potato in pieces making sure you have at least two eyes in each piece. Plant 2 pieces in the soil evenly spaced in the container with the eyes facing up. Cover with soil to one inch below the rim of the container.
The tops will start turning brown in the latter part of summer. Do not harvest at that time. Wait until the fall to harvest. Potatoes can stay in the soil a long time. It is easy to harvest potatoes from a container: Simply turn the container over and pick out the potatoes and put the remaining soil back in the container. You can put a piece of plastic on the ground to dump the soil onto so it is easy to pick up and reuse the soil. If you harvest early small potatoes wash just before you are ready to cook them because the skins will be very thin. For larger potatoes that will be harvested later you can wash them very gently, dry them and store in a cool, dark place. Potatoes will last over 4 months if stored properly. Do not expose the potatoes to sun.
There are many ways to plant potatoes. In larger containers you can put 5 inches of soil in the bottom of the container and plant your potatoes and cover with soil as the greens grow.
In larger containers, I also plant by putting 5 inches of soil in the bottom of the container and plant 3 to 4 pieces of potato with two eyes facing up. I then add 4 inches of soil and plant another 3 or 4 pieces of potato and continue this process to one inch below the rim of the container making sure the last planting is covered with at least 4 inches of soil. This technique has worked very well and is good for larger containers.
We have chosen 4 excellent potatoes that grow well in containers. The All Blue, All Red and Superior are part of the Red, White, and Blue Potato kit. We also have Yukon Gold Potatoes – Sorry, potatoes are not available this year.