Back a few years ago we tried to grow potatoes in a five gallon bucket. Unfortunately the experiment was not a success. At the end of the growing season all we had to show for the effort were a few handfuls of marble sized potatoes. After the failure we decided to read up on how to grow potatoes (no we didn't do that first). Did you know you are supposed to 'hill' potatoes?! Sure you did because everyone knows that, well except for us we didn't know that. Anyway we decided to try it again this year with a little more knowledge and a little bit bigger buckets. I went to TSC and got water buckets from the horse/barnyard animal department. The color choice was made by the kids they actually agreed on the color! It was a small miracle. After we got the buckets we took them home and explained our plan to Jeff and then told him he needed to go with us and get dirt. It was a little like how I got my garden last year. Buy half the stuff then he will feel the need to help us with the rest.... I'm evil like that. We went to several stores and got a bunch of different opinions about the soil we needed. As with many things we decided to just wing it and got the supplies you see in the first photo. Jeff grabbed one of the spare barrels and mixed them all together. We let it all sit for a few days and incorporate. Or we got busy, something like that. Jeff drilled holes in the bottom of the buckets for drainage and we got some stones from the neighbors for the bottom of the buckets. In theory it will help the water drain without all the soil also leaking out. Well that's the way it's supposed to work for house plants right?
These are the potatoes. I purchased them from one of the stands at the Farmer's Market. She gave me some advice about planting spaces and whatnot. She's great and sells 50# bags of potatoes for $8 if you don't mind a mixed bag of the not so pretty ones. Can't beat that with a stick right?
So we (Jeff) planted the potato bits and then hauled them to the back rock area. We didn't water the soil because rain was expected that night. If you would like a great link to learn more about growing potatoes
try this one. Have a great week.
Back a few years ago we tried to grow potatoes in a five gallon bucket. Unfortunately the experiment was not a success. At the end of the growing season all we had to show for the effort were a few handfuls of marble sized potatoes. After the failure we decided to read up on how to grow potatoes (no we didn't do that first). Did you know you are supposed to 'hill' potatoes?! Sure you did because everyone knows that, well except for us we didn't know that. Anyway we decided to try it again this year with a little more knowledge and a little bit bigger buckets. I went to TSC and got water buckets from the horse/barnyard animal department. The color choice was made by the kids they actually agreed on the color! It was a small miracle. After we got the buckets we took them home and explained our plan to Jeff and then told him he needed to go with us and get dirt. It was a little like how I got my garden last year. Buy half the stuff then he will feel the need to help us with the rest.... I'm evil like that. We went to several stores and got a bunch of different opinions about the soil we needed. As with many things we decided to just wing it and got the supplies you see in the first photo. Jeff grabbed one of the spare barrels and mixed them all together. We let it all sit for a few days and incorporate. Or we got busy, something like that. Jeff drilled holes in the bottom of the buckets for drainage and we got some stones from the neighbors for the bottom of the buckets. In theory it will help the water drain without all the soil also leaking out. Well that's the way it's supposed to work for house plants right? 
These are the potatoes. I purchased them from one of the stands at the Farmer's Market. She gave me some advice about planting spaces and whatnot. She's great and sells 50# bags of potatoes for $8 if you don't mind a mixed bag of the not so pretty ones. Can't beat that with a stick right? 
So we (Jeff) planted the potato bits and then hauled them to the back rock area. We didn't water the soil because rain was expected that night. If you would like a great link to learn more about growing potatoes try this one. Have a great week.
Good luck with your potatoes. :-)
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