Growing potatoes in pots – nature’s still laughing

Ever try to bend nature to your will? And how does that usually work out? Uh huh. Last spring, with uncharacteristic greed, we bought 2 kilos of seed potatoes – half Russet, half Yukon Gold.. That’s a lot of potatoes, far more than our little community plot could handle. To address the excess, I thought I’d grow some potatoes in pots on the balcony.

Attempt 1: I planted four in a nice, chunky planter. Forgot to mention this to Paolo. He later heads out to the balcony, all green-fingered, and plants lily bulbs in the same thing. We didn’t realize for months. If you remember our bathroom “after” photos, you’ve already guessed: the lilies won.

Attempt 2: Undeterred, I tried again with another pot. Things went well – too well – because one day I realized my potatoes were all leggy stem and little else. Here’s where I tried to tell nature where to shove it:

I pulled off all the side shoots and leaves from the 2-foot tall potato stems, and then rigged up this contraption. My hope? I’d trick the potato into growing roots where its leaves had once been. I knew at the time it was doomed but a stubborn “grow, damn it” streak can’t be stopped. While the top of the plant above the new soil line was very happy, nothing ever grew on those very long stems.

But it could have. Had I paid better attention and hilled them up slowly, correctly, I think our potatoes-from-a-pot harvest would have far surpassed this:

Do as I say – Successes & failures of pot-bound potatoes:

• Good: the cardboard pot-extending contraption worked perfectly – not a drop of soil escaped. (Use 3-4 shims shoved inside the pot & staple the cardboard to them). I later wrapped the outside in that black landscaping fabric & it blended right in with our normal pots.
• Bad: too greedy – I put 3 pieces of seed potato into this small pot. One would have been plenty.

Done properly, one small pot would have meant a summer-long supply of balcony-grown new potatoes. Hilled-up, I think the plant’s quite handsome – and very green. It added some nice height and lushness as it kept up with its neighbour: the lilies.

If I lived on the ground floor, I’d try growing them in garbage cans. Until then I’ll definitely repeat the process with pots – properly. Incidentally, our community plot potatoes were our most successful veggie last year – taking first place in our 2011 total garden harvest. Maybe greed’s a good thing?