DIY Sweet Potato Planter

Ridge

• The simplest way to make a sweet potato planter is to build up soil with a hoe to make a ridge in your garden. The depth of the soft soil should be about 1 foot along the top of the ridge to ensure that the potatoes have enough space. Plant the sweet potatoes along the top of the ridge and help train the vines to run along the ridge, not down it. This ensures that there is plenty of depth for a sweet potato to grow below each node.

Tire Planters

• Old tires can make easy recycled planters for sweet potatoes. Each planter needs to be two tires tall for enough soil depth. Place the first tire on the ground. Use a utility knife to cut off the side wall of the tire that is facing up. Cut both sidewalls off a second tire and place that on top of the first one. Fill in the space in the center of the tire with soil and you have a self-contained planter that will hold one sweet potato plant. The black rubber of the tires will help warm the soil, which is especially useful for extending the growing season in cooler climates.

Raised Bed

• Plant sweet potatoes in any type of raised garden bed with a soil depth of at least eight inches. The easiest way to make a raised bed for sweet potatoes is to dig four six-inch deep holes for corner posts and place posts at least three inches by three inches by 14 inches in the holes before filling them in. Nail boards between the corner posts to make the walls of the raised bed, which should be at least eight inches tall, if not a full foot tall. Fill in the raised bed with soil, compost and peat moss before planting the sweet potatoes in it.

Potato Bin or Bag

• If you have grown white potatoes in the past and want to switch to sweet potatoes for a year, you can reuse the potato bins or bags that you already have. Just start with about a foot of soil and do not add any more as the growing season progresses. If you do not have bins or bags yet, large burlap sacks make easy sweet potato planters. Just cut each sack open along one side, leaving the ends intact so it holds its shape, and set the sack with the open part along the top. Fill it with soil to a depth of at least eight inches and plant the sweet potatoes right there in the sack.