Last Updated on September 13, 2026
How to Grow Potatoes in Containers
Potatoes are a great crop for pots if you are short on bed space, and harvest is the best part: instead of digging, you tip the pot onto a tarp. Here are the eight steps from the first video, then what I did 30 days later in the second.
1. Pick your varieties
Most potatoes take 65 to 100 days, and there are hundreds of varieties. If you want potatoes from summer into fall, plant an early, a mid-season and a late variety. New potatoes are ready about ten weeks in.
2. Get seed potatoes
Organic store potatoes sometimes grow, but they may be treated and you get no choice of variety. Buy certified seed potatoes. The organic seed potatoes I link now are from Wood Prairie in Maine, which sorts them by season and texture and has an easy-to-grow list. Code PMG5 takes 5 percent off.
3. When to plant
A few weeks before your last expected frost. Not earlier: the foliage is frost-tender. If it does get nipped it recovers, but it costs the plant energy.
4. Chit the seed
Four to six weeks before planting, set the seed potatoes in a warm, bright spot, eyes up. When the sprouts are about half an inch long they are ready. Large seed potatoes can be cut into pieces with at least two sprouts each; let the cut faces callus for a couple of days before planting.
5. Choose the pot
I use fabric Smart Pots because they drain and breathe. A plastic bin or bucket works if you drill drain holes. How many seed potatoes per pot:
| Pot size | Seed potatoes |
|---|---|
| 3 gallons | 1 |
| 10 gallons | 3 to 4 |
| 15 gallons | 5 |
| 20 gallons | about 7 |
I use 20-gallon pots. If you need to move them, stay at 10 to 15 gallons; a full 20 is heavy.
6. Soil mix
Half organic potting soil, half compost. Equal parts potting soil, peat and compost or manure also works. With compost in the mix you should not need to feed; if you do, use something with more phosphate than nitrogen, since nitrogen grows leaves instead of potatoes.
7. Plant
Put 6 inches of mix in the bottom of the pot. Set the seed potatoes a few inches apart in a ring, sprouts up, six around the edge and one in the middle for a 20-gallon pot. Cover with a couple of inches of mix so no light reaches them.
8. Maintain
Full sun, and water to keep the mix damp but never soggy. When stems appear, add a few more inches of mix, leaving the leaves exposed. Keep adding as they grow until the pot is full.
At 30 days: fill, mulch, water
A month in, the plants are tall and the pots are still only a third full. Mix up more soil (I used topsoil from the woods, unfinished compost and peat), then fill slowly around the stems without snapping them, shaking the pot so it settles evenly. Then mulch: wood chips, grass clippings, straw or leaves. Mulch keeps the mix moist and, more importantly, keeps light off any potato that forms near the surface. A potato that sees light turns green, and green potatoes are not for eating. Water deeply after filling.
Harvest and storage
Once the plants flower you can reach in for new potatoes. For the main harvest, wait until the tops yellow and die back in late summer, stop watering about two weeks before, then tip the pot onto a tarp. Save the soil for next year with a little fresh compost. Let the potatoes dry in the sun for an hour or two, brush off the dirt without washing, eat any damaged ones first, and never eat green skin. Cure two weeks in the dark at about 55°F and high humidity, then store in the dark no colder than 40°F.
Key takeaways
- Fabric pots, 10 to 20 gallons; one seed potato per 3 gallons, seven in a 20-gallon.
- Chit the seed 4 to 6 weeks ahead until sprouts are half an inch, and cut big ones into two-sprout pieces.
- Plant on 6 inches of mix, cover lightly, then keep adding mix as the stems grow until the pot is full.
- Mulch so no tuber sees light; green potatoes are not for eating.
- Tip the pot onto a tarp when the tops die back, cure two weeks at 55°F in the dark.
When to plant potatoes
These are the windows the Plan My Garden planner uses, counted from your average last spring frost. Enter your frost date on the seed starting calendar to turn them into dates.
| Direct sow | 2 weeks before to 1 week before your last frost |
|---|---|
| Days to maturity | about 90 days |
Questions people ask
How many potatoes will one pot give?
Several pounds from a 20-gallon pot with seven seed pieces, more if you keep filling as they grow; the crop forms along the buried stem.
Can I reuse the soil?
Yes. Save it, add compost, and use it next year.
Can I use grocery store potatoes?
Sometimes they grow, but many are treated to stop sprouting. Certified seed potatoes are cheap and give you a choice of variety.
Plan the garden before you build it
Plan My Garden is free to start: it schedules potatoes and everything else for your zip code and places each crop in your beds and containers.
Related: Planting and Growing Potatoes · How Many Potatoes per Square Foot? · Composting for Beginners
