Growing Potatoes in Containers

You may remember, or you may need to check back in the archives for a January blog of mine about growing potatoes in a garbage can.  In that blog, I talked about how I loved the idea of growing my own potatoes without having to dedicate so much of my garden space to it.  Growing potatoes in a garbage can solved the issue of space requirements, and also watering issues, since hubby is going to place the can under one of our hanging tomato plants that he's set up with a drip system!  Clever, isn't he?

So I went out and got a new garbage can for my trash and am ready to drill air holes in the sides of the old garbage can (AFTER I clean it thorougly with BiOWiSH™ Bin Wash.  That 100% organic cleaner will remove all the odors and odor causing bacteria from my old trash can so that I can start this grow with a nice clean can.)  But then I read an article in my Friday, April 9, 2010 The Denver Post Grow insert called "Potato box yields scads of spuds" and it gave me pause.  It seems that this fella, Greg Lutovsky, out of eastern Washington state has developed this 4 foot square spud box that can provide a really impressive yield of potatoes!  Mr. Lutovsky lists five steps to succes in this process:
1.  Select late-season potatoes.  My hubby says this is vitally important because short-season potato varieties produce a limited amount of potatoes and then the plant dies off.
2.  Plant in multiple layers; like lasagna, put in a layer of soil, a layer potatoes and additional side panels as the vines grow a foot above the soil level, making sure to leave at least 2/3 of the vine above the new layer of soil.
3.  Wind a soaker hose through each successive layer of soil and taters so all layers of roots get even moisture.
4.  Provide the potatoes with a medium of loose soil, like compost mixed with potting soil.
5.  Don't overfertilize!  He recommends a 5-10-10 fertilizer instead of a standard plant food.  I think I'll stick to my organic compost that I make in our tumbling composter that our website offers, so that the potato plants will be continuously nourished by the compost.
This all sounds like simple, sound advice.  And frankly, harvesting the vegies sounds like a walk in the park!  The only trouble is that we'd already planned on a garden addition this spring, adding a raised garden in our backyard so that: a) we have more space to grow vegies and b) we have less lawn to mow (!).  This addition will entail a trip to the hardware store for wood, funds for the wood, time planning out where exactly to put it in our yard and how to build it, laying down newspaper over the grass to keep it from growing into the planter and filling it with compost and soil.  This is a large enough investment of time and money to have me putting the Potato Box on hold until next year.  So if you're interested in growing your own potatoes with a limited amount of space and effort harvesting, and you like woodcrafting, Google "Build a Potato Box" or check out the diagram available on lifehacker.com.