Grow 100 lbs. Of Potatoes In 4 Square Feet: {How To}
Quite the clever gardening tip here folks! Today’s feature includes tips from three different sources for growing potatoes vertically (in layers) instead of spread out in rows across your garden. If you have limited garden space or want to try some nifty gardening magic, this could be a great option for you.
Potato Box Project By The Seattle Times
The potatoes are planted inside the box, the first row of boards is installed and the dirt or mulch can now be added to cover the seed potatoes. As the plant grows, more boards and dirt will be added.
You plant potatoes in one bottom layer, boarding up the sides of each layer and adding dirt as you go higher (you wait until the plants have grown a bit before adding a new layer). While new potatoes are growing in the top layers, remove the boards from the first layer at the bottom to carefully dig out the potatoes that are ready for harvesting. Fill the dirt back in and board up the box again. You move up the layers and harvest as the potatoes are ready. I imagine the new potatoes in the first couple bottom layers would be somewhat awkward to get at but as you move higher–not so bad.
I traced the information provided in the article to Irish Eyes Garden Seeds, they have another how-to article online here: How to Grow 100 lbs. of Potatoes in 4 Square Feet. They also advise you can skip the box and try growing the potatoes in a barrel or wire cage instead.
In another article on The Seattle Times (How To Grow Potatoes At Home), I came across this blog post from Sinfonian’s Square Foot Garden that details his attempt at growing potatoes with this potato box method: Build-As-You-Grow Potato Bins. The info was from last year (lots of pics) and he’s promised updates of this year’s attempts. He added this tip for a better yield:
Greg from Irish-Eyes Garden City Seeds let me know that Yukon Golds, and all early varieties set fruit once and do not do well in towers. You only get potatoes in the bottom 6 inches, which is what I got. Late season alternatives to yukon gold are Yellow Fin and Binjte.
Bonus! For a handy project sheet, The Seattle Times has a nice image file detailing the steps (click to view the original):
How To Build & Use Your Potato Box: The Seattle Times
Imagine growing all those potatoes in a just a few square feet–and how drastically reduced the potato-patch weeding job will be! So Clever.
Reader Update: Here’s some info sent in by Christine who made a potato bin using wood pallets:
Last weekend, I was inspired by the Tip Nut potato bin – grow 100 lbs in 4 square feet. As nice as it looked, it seemed to be very complicated, especially unscrewing slats. Being a “just do it” kind of person, I asked my husband to build me one using pallets — which are free. He picked some up, but I realized that they were enormous, so he cut them in half and made side by side compost / potato growing bins.
The Tip Nut plan called for unscrewing the bottom portions to get the grown potatoes out. Rod attached pieces of wood to hold the front pallet in place and to allow you to slide it up like a window. I took books of hay to stuff in the openings of the potato bin so the dirt wouldn’t fall out. We’ll see how it does.
Here’s a photo:
Christine's Wood Pallet Potato Bin
Unfortunately we placed it up against our neighbor’s fence. On the other side is their dog, who our Puggle Feeney loves to visit. He is always trying to dig under the fence. With the bins in place over his digging spot, the poor guy jumped into the compost bin and got stuck!
Christine’s Update: After having it in place for a couple of weeks, I discovered that the local cats think it makes a fine litter box, so I’ve added a frame on the top with chicken wire to keep them out, but allow the sunlight and water in. See her page here for lots more info and tips: Food Security 2009.
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First Published: April 7, 2009
Filed: DIY Projects, Outdoor Gardening, Popular Tips
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HI,
What a great idea for a small garden like mine!
I have downsized since retiring and miss growing my own potatoes, i grow everything else in containers and flower beds.
Has anyone in the uk tried this? as i don’t recognise the varieties of potatoes that have been spoken about in this article, if so have you tried it with any uk popular varieties? i would like to give it a go, i will let you know how i get on, and if anyone else in uk has any luck i would be interested to hear about it. and what varieties have been succsesful
UK answer both QVC and Ideal World c640 and 644 both sell kits for growing container spuds with the differing types for the various growing periods up till a Christmas crop
If you go on line to the QVC site you will find a link to Richard Jackson’s blog
that will advise you, also you can Email him … no limit to the amount of help you can get with QVC UK ..
You can grow them in old car tires also.Just put down a tire or 2 and put in your potatos and some straw and dirt.They grow inside the tire,you reach down in and pull out what you need.
PLEASE DON’T USE TYRES. could be very dangerous to your health. I asked my tyre merchant about this and he said the amount of chemical materials the tyres collect off the roads over their lifetime seeps into the tyre rubber and will leach out into your potato crop as the insides become damp with watering. It’s a good idea BUT for your own health, please stop and think of all the chemicals that go into tar production. Do you really want this in your potato crop?
And before you ask, i did use this method…but now I use the method described above with the boards or with large containers.
Sorry to be a scare monger…but it’s your health
NOT only that.
But you cannot get out the first layer of tire without disturbing the entire crop.
The whole tire thing is overblown. There has been no evidence to date that supports the toxic leaching theory – it remains just that… a theory.
Now, it seems like a no-brainer, I admit. Tires are an artificial petro-chemical product, run on the wicked bad roads where cars travel. God knows, but such things MUST be bad, right? But of all the information Ive seen the only substantiated problem arises with tire SHREDS used for mulch, which exhibit high levels of zinc leaching. Millions of people garden in tires don’t succumb to any noxious effects.
Similar dire warnings have been given about pressure treated wood, too, mostly by people who just don’t like the idea of chemicals around wood. Research suggests that a microscopic amount of arsenic migrates out of the wood, but arsenic levels in the subject soils are no higher than that which naturally exists in the soil.
As for potatoes, I like the idea of sliding side boards that allow you to extract the bottom potatoes – something the tires don’t have. Make them our of pressure treated wood and they’d be near to perfect.
dont use pressure treated lumber as it is full of toxic chemicals
A little white trash, perhaps, but my parents, who are now old enough to tell the same stories over and over, used to plant a potato plant and throw an old tire over it. You don’t add dirt, just put a tire, and the potatoes will grow inside it, perfectly round, and free of dirt. Once the plant grows taller put another tire on top of the first one and you’ll get more potatoes. Continue this process until you have a big stack of tires filled with round, dirt free potatoes.
How does it work without tires? do you just place the seed potatoes on the ground then add a tire? could you be a little more specific on how that works?
Glad you folks liked it. I too considered tires long and hard in my quest for the perfect growing method for tight spaces. Unfortunately I had no tires to use and couldn’t see buying them. Besides, as the 2005 Times article said, I didn’t want to look like a Jeff Foxworthy joke, hehe.
That said, however you grow potatoes, do so, it’s easy to do and they produce tons (well, short season don’t but read my blog page for that tid-bit). There’s 100 ways to grow a tomato, so whatever works, do it, hehe.
Enjoy!
You could get very fancy with your boards and add hinges and clasps to your boards. That would make it easier to rob potatoes and maybe add life to the box.
“adding dirt and SEED POTATOES as you go higher”
You don’t add seed potatoes on every level just the first one and continue to cover the same plants with mulch or dirt when they are about a foot tall being careful not to cover more than a third of the plant. If you had to put seed potatoes on every level you wouldn’t be gaining much. Seems like I have to keep telling this same story over and over…….
Info corrected–I’m sure I reviewed the post 5 times before publishing and still missed that, thanks.
I hope you realize my sarcasm wasn’t directed at you. I am gonna try this myself. Thanks for the post.
Nope, I’m grateful you found the boo-boo–I was a bit embarrassed I missed it
.
you don’t need dirt. a long time ago i did this at my parent’s house. they had a lawn (wasteful use of earth) anyway all you need to do is cut up the seed potatoes, leaving a few eye on each part, put them on top of the lawn, no digging needed, and cover with straw. when the potatoes are ready just pull up the plant and presto there are the grown potatoes ready to eat. no digging, no weeding(straw keeps the weeds down) just a little water.
I help grow real palm trees at a Florida Nursery and we do the same concept but with the more exotic palms like the Lipstick palm. I have never tried growing 100 potatoes in 4 square feet but now at least I will have a fighting chance!
Why do you say, “rob potatoes”, if you grow them, shouldn’t you say “gather potatoes”?
Pretty clever i must admit. I think it would work well for in the condo for Mrs Vrozos.
I use a low-tech version of this in the UK. It lets me grow potatoes even though I’m wheelchair bound and can’t really dig. I use old plastic compost sacks. I cut small drainage holes in the bottom and roll the tops of the bags right down, planting the potatoes in maybe a foot of compost/soil mixture. As the plants grow I roll the bags up a little and add more compost/soil, and so on throughout the season. Where the soil covers the stem, new roots and more potatoes form giving a much heavier crop than normal.
When I want some spuds I just tip the compost/soil out (or cut the bag open if I’m feeling lazy) and presto! There are the potatoes. I find they keep well over winter in their bags of soil as long as I cover them to keep them dry and protected from frost. A bumper harvest, easy storage and no digging – it doesn’t get much better than that, does it?
thats genious my friend i am going to try that
Righteous! Must give this a try next year [in Florida, potato season is over]
I hate weeding so this is PERFECT for my garden!! I’m going to try a few of these this year! Store some potatoes in the cold room and give some away. Thanks for the tip!
This is perfect! We live on a wooded lot with only one small area that gets enough sunlight. I’ve got to show this to hubby as soon as possible. Thanks for the tip
Actually Potatoes grow well in partial shade……as in under some trees……give it a try!!!!!!!!
Great idea but I would use another kind of wood in Florida because of termites. Yikes! Maybe a large planting bucket and cut out the hole in the bottom but do the same planting effect as with wood.
Brilliant idea. Thanks for posting.
THIS WONDERFUL IDEA NEEDS MUCH PROMOTION AS THE SPACE OWNED BY A PERSON IS DECREASING WITH THE INCREASE IN TIME.
I’m definitely going to try this! Living in an apartment has become quite the gardening dilemma. Could this process also be used for yams/sweet potatoes?
Yes. I’ve done it (with tires) & it worked well. If you have a source for enough, sweet potatoes like sawdust better than dirt.
I suggest that you consider using some kind of “non rotting” lumber for this project; as it will save money in the long run. Take the lumber plans and material list to your local lumber yard and they will be able to suggest substitutes that will work well. Consider Trex, and similar materials…
This would be an excellent use for recycled plastic/wood chip products that do not rot and looks very similar to many recycle/composting bins; so you may find a dual use for them!
Good idea. It should work well.
You may be able to throw some compost material in – grass clippings, tree leaves, coffee grounds – as you go?
But what about the expense of the wood
Just use ‘recycled’ old tires instead?
Wow this is really an ingenious way to grow potatoes in tight places. I mean one can use this module and grow really tremendous amount of potatoes. I think if we use waterproof plyboards or say plastics , then it can be used for years.
And I would like to know how the tyre works.
wow! great idea.. i will try it with the potatoes i planting on my backyard
Thanks mate!!
Hi, I think a better idea, because it costs nothing but a small amount of time, and you can have as small an area, or as large an area as you like, is to re-use/recycle old plastic plant pots, any nursery or commercial landscaper will usually throw thousands away because they arent cost effective to return to the grower. get the size you want, they range from a few inches diameter to a few feet, get a number the same size, rinse them out, cut/knock the bottoms out, fill the first one with your soil and seed potatoes, then as they grow, sit another on top, fill with soil, so on, so forth etc etc etc.
You can have several small stacks dotted around, the plastic will not rot, you are recycling something that would just go to landfill, and if you can support it against a wall or tree, you can have one a foot across and 5 feet tall.
thanks for listening.
Great idea but a suggestion for those who are a lil afraid of the construction aspect, Get yourself a plastic garbage can, drill a few holes around the bottom edge for drainage and there you go,works great..Simply add about 6 inches of compost.Put in the seed potatoes and cover with a few inches of compost.As the tops grow up add more compost and reap the rewards at the end of the season. Get a can with wheels and it makes for easy moving and is reusable for years..:-)
Actually, no, wheels on the garbage can are not terribly useful – unless you have a seriously heavy-duty garbage can. I’ve got horseradish growing in three 32-gallon garbage cans right now. My first plant is in a can with wheels. Once you’ve got the dirt in there and you’ve watered it, the can is too heavy for wheeling around much. I broke the handle on mine trying to tip it back, and the weight of the dirt, plant and water makes the can kind of sag around the wheels. So I just put them in a good place and leave them alone all winter.
I read about doing this sort of thing years ago in The Mother Earth News, but I never tried it. They didn’t use soil in the planting beds, though–just straw. They were using larger beds, but same concept. I suppose the plant feeds itself from the layer of roots underground and the potato-producing portion just needs protection from sun/wind/etc.
We live in a very short-season area, but a bed this small could be easily protected or even grown in a greenhouse. I’ll have to give it a try. Thanks!
You need not buy lumber. There are plenty of used wooden pallets that are free for the taking. They are usually made of hard woods and last a long time. Just cut the pieces from them. You will recycle, help clean up Mother Earth and enjoy a bountiful harvest.
Before sailing the seven seas, I was privileged to be a steward of a 98 acre organic farm in south central Kentucky.
Want to try this potato growing concept but what about potato seedlings. Any suggestions for potato starter seeding varities sources etc. in NE area. Can you just carve left over potato that came from supermarket allow to dry then plant. Can you start grow inside in say basement then move out doors as weather warms up. Suggestions on seeding and seed preperation for best results. thx
Regarding those compost bags some call them Smart Bags, you can make your own by taking landscaping cloth and sewing up the side to make a tube. roll it down and plant the spuds and as you said roll it up as you go.
The thing I found with tires is that the “empty space” where the potatoes grow is an excellent enviroment for bugs and most aren’t “good bugs”. The wood seems like a better idea. I used plastic garbage cans(med. size) and always had a good crop. Sold lots of spuds at the Farmers market here in Great Falls MT.
let m,e see if I can summarize.
1. Raise the bed as the plant grows.
2. Add loses soil-basically mulch
3. Use late season plants.
4. Dont use tires- could be toxic.
Question-doesn’t the garbage can method limit the sun that the plant gets?
I guess that might be good, I don’t know enough about potatoes to guess…
I’ve been using garbage cans forever and have great luck..You don’t completely cover the plant leave a couple inches out and that’s all the sun they will need i guess that’s what keeps them growing up is the search for sun? Anyways just let them get about 6 to 8 inches tall and then cover with compost or straw and repeat.When they start flowering i stop and let them finish making their taters
good way to grow spuds in confined space…. place several car tyers on top of one another fill quater way up with soil and spud seedlings it’s really good way of doing it. my cousine use to live in a block of flats and use to do this on his varander it really works.
Hi- In Scotland we start the spuds in an old tyre, and just keep piling up tyres and compost until it’s time to harvest, not exactly beautiful- but you can plant around the tyres to hide them, or make the stack near your compost bins where they won’t be so visible. Zero cost, lots of potatoes.
What a great way of getting some fresh food, when the next oil crash wrecks the world’s economy permanently. I’m sure you guys have heard of “peak oil” haven’t you? Oh, but don’t worry. At least we’ll get rid of greenhouse gases.
We’re talking about growing potatoes. Why must every blog or article on the Internet devolve into politicking?
Even easier to handle than soil, use straw! Loosen the soil of the planting area, place your potatoes on top, cover with 4″ to 6″ of straw. As the plants grow, add more straw. For harvesting, just push the straw aside, take what you want and put the straw back. No digging, no heavy soil to shift, and the straw beaks down over the winter to enrich your soil.
What i do not understand is if all you add is straw what is the potato plant going to FEED from ? If there is not any dirt or compost and the straw is not going to be able to breakdown all that fast -does not the potato plant STARVE ??
The plants use photosynthesis to make food, like most plants. I’d put a small amount of good soil or finished compost in on the seed potatoes, though. Then you can add straw to encourage more potatoes. You can always spray with a foliar feed fertilizer, too, such as soluble kelp. And water with compost tea every couple of weeks.
So the potatoes just grow really big?
I think I will try this in my poly tunnel. We have three acres but this will allow for very early planting. Should get first new potatoes by mid Febuary.
I’ve been using pantyhose for years. Much easier access to the potatoes and yams. Don’t have to fight your way in between tires or pull apart wood. Pantyhose stretch, you can cut with knife and then re-tie.
I am in Scotland and this sounds ideal for my small garden. The Government are subsidising composting bins here just now of various sizes and designs starting from £6. I am definately going to try this.
What variety for our climate.
maris pipers
golden wonder
kerrs pinks
marfona
king edwards
estima
spunta
anyone in the uk got any suggestions
Frank
Watch out when using straw, it is great to grow in and add to your compost as long as your compost pile heats up enough to really break it down good and keep it’s seed from germinating. If not you will have straw growing everywhere and vigorously. The best sustitute for staw is Hay. Most hay is seedless when harvested. It has the same characteristics as straw for its use, breaks down at the same rate,is a great addition to compost and ammendments for your soil. Plus in a vegetable garden it acts as a wonder mulch to help retain moisture, suppress weeds and helps deter some pests. Not to metion it looks good as well.
I work at a state historic site and design and maintain the working kitchen garden and have been using hay for over 10 years. It’s great!
You sterilize straw or grass trimmings, or lawn-grass cuttings, even leaves–by putting in a black garbage bag, tie it, leave it in the hot sun and any seed in the straw or grass will die, and then you can use it as compost for your potatoes or anything else without the danger of growing weeds in your garden. Any root crops do better in straw compost than in dirt, especially in hard clay or soil with poor drainage.
I am not sure that pallets are a good idea. Many are soaked in chemical preservatives. Years ago arsenic was the potion of choice but lord knows what is put on them in strange countries. A lot of them may be hardwood and Ok……………but then dont ever cut them indoors as the dust is hazardous.
As I am already the prophet of doom could i also add its not a good idea to inhale smoke from burning pallets.
Frank, pallets are not made from treated wood, it’s more expensive than untreated, and for a shipping pallet that’s most like going to be discarded, they’d have no reason to make them from treated wood. I have seen a few that have some paint on them, I don’t know why, maybe they were made from recovered wood, maybe they were painted for some reason. I wouldn’t want the paint in contact with something I’m going to eat. Sometimes they have oil or other substances on them, so it is something to be careful with. But in general, pallets are safe to use.
I forgot to add, treated wood also has a green tint to it, so you can tell it apart from untreated. I think there’s a new one with a yellow tint, called “Yellawood”. It’s probably not likely to be found in pallets, though.
That seems like a lot of trouble, to dig out the potatoes from the bottom. My grandfather, Emery Mullendore used to just lay the “eyes” on the ground about 6 inches apart, then cover them with hay. He’d water them, during “not so wet” times and keep them moist at first, then when they were ready to harvest, just lift the hay, pick the potatoes up, from the ground and take them in the house, for my grandmother to cook. Never any digging or hard work.
I can see where the “box method” would be good, if you have no room, but if you have the room, the “hay method” seems like a winner to me.
I have a raised vegetable garden bed. When the growing season has finished and harvesting complete, then during the winter months, I throw my scraps into the raised garden bed (no dairy products/meat by products, etc.). Once in awhile during the winter, the soil is turned over. There are some leaves in the garden bed too. Potatoes??? Wow, I had russet, red bliss, yukon gold potatoes and all from the peelings thrown into the vegetable garden bed. Didn’t purchase any fancy spuds at the garden center to use….mine just grew from peelings. Bountiful supply in the spring.
This is a truly AWESOME idea. I’ve copied all your plans so that I can try this as well. I have a large back yard but everything I grow tends to spread everywhere and turns into a mess, so I like the confinement. The tire idea sounds excellent as well. I don’t think it’s ‘white trash’ – that’s just some silly prejudice. It sounds practical to me. And by the way – I could eat all 100 pounds of potatoes.
Good article, and good information – thank you. Even though regular pine boards get termites in them and rot rather fast, try not to use treated boards. The plants are supposed to be able to pull the chemicals out of the treated boards. Its better to replace rotten pine boards then to risk getting chemicals in your food.
I have heard of using tires, but its nothing that I recommend.
We have used the stainless steel tub from our defunct washer for growing potatoes for the past few years, although we have only planted one layer. I will be trying the suggestion of planting on the very bottom and then covering the plant as it grows. (To stop the dirt from leaking out the holes, put a liner if weed barrier fabric around the inside of the tub.)
Hi,
Thanks for the great info. I blogged about potatoes and included your link. My customers love information and I love to bring it to them. This is something they could do on their own. Thanks so much.
Su from Zoey Farms, Shingle Springs, Ca
Last year I build one of these potato wood bins as you called them. I went to my local builder store and had them cut the boards to the length that I needed and bought the screws. I already had some extra compost from my composter and extra potting soil along with some regular soil so all in all it cost me $28 to build my 32″x32″ bin. I planted my potatoes and grew 40 lbs of them, the best tasting potatoes ever. Two things I noticed when I did not water them enough that layer had little to no potatoes, could estimate by my vacation time and where the soil had not been softened with compost that layer had few potatoes. I have had excellent potatoes all winter. The funny part was I was gone and then got sick and forgot about picking them so after we had a major freeze here in Colorado I expected them to be mush but I needed to take my bin down so started digging them out and it turned out they had not been affected by the freeze at all.
Excellent way to grow…how many different things.
Just wanted to share this with others, I did not get my 100 lbs but who cares and with paying more attention to them with regular watering and good soil who knows…I was thrilled for my first year it was GREAT.
hr
what type of potatoes did you plant?
Don’t use leaves unless they are sterilized first. Hardwood leaves, especially oak carry nematodes that will keep your crop on the smallish, disfigured side.
A friend told me to buy a large bag of compost poke holes in the bottome for drainage and cut a slit on top and plant potatoes in the bag. To havest slice the side and pull out only what you need.
Due to cold wet spring I was late getting to the garden and all the seed potatoes were sold out. Guy at the store suggested going to Whole Foods and getting small Organic potatoes as these supposedly are not treated with chemicals to retard sprouting. They are in the ground in my box. We shall see.
TJL
Hi.
How can I grow the same size potato tubers for minimmizing sorting needs.
Homayun