How to grow potatoes in pots

Growing potatoes in pots is a great idea for city folks who don't have the luxury of a large garden in their backyard. Its also fun, easy and can be one of your first crops to enjoy. Anytime after May 1st is a good time (Ottawa, ON, Canada) to plant and you should harvest small potatoes on Father's Day in mid-June!

To start, purchase disease free certified potato seed from your garden centre. Depending on the size, potatoes can be planted whole or cut into ice cube size pieces before planting. The sprouts are called potato eyes and each piece should have at least one eye. If you cut them, allow them to dry a few days before planting. Apparently if you plant large seeds the plant grows smaller potatoes. If you plant smaller seeds you get fewer but larger potatoes. Strange eh? But let's not be too concerned about this detail.

As you may know, potatoes grow up and not downwards so your planting preparation is different from other crops. You may want to mix a bit of bone meal or other organic fertilizer with the soil prior to planting. Place a 3" layer of soil at the bottom of the pot and place 3 potatoes with the eyes facing up in the pot and just cover them with soil.  It won't be too long before they sprout and when 3-4 inches tall add more soil. Keep adding soil until the plant reaches the top of the pot and that's it. You can use large garbage cans or any container that will hold earth but keep in mind they can get heavy to handle. Keep them well watered during the growing season.

The latest rage is to use a two pot system with the inner pot cut away to harvest the potatoes without dumping the complete pail. When you want to harvest some potatoes, just lift the inner pot from the outer pot and presto - you see potatoes! You can make your own pots by cutting away sections of the pot with a exacto knife and drill holes in the bottom for drainage.

My favourite potato is the Yukon Gold variety that has a waxy yellow flesh with a great taste. It's from Canada, eh? It was developed and released in 1980 by the Department of Agriculture, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada . Universal in nature, its great for boiling, baking and poutine french fries! Oh, yes, poutine (french fries with cheese curds and brown gravy) - another great Canadian creation by the folks in La Belle Province, Québec, Canada. 1 potato, 2 potato, 3 potato, my friend!