How to Grow Potatoes in a Bushel Basket

Urban and small-space gardeners must forgo growing many crops due to lack of garden space. Fortunately, many garden vegetables can be grown in containers, including potatoes, which are so adaptable to containers that they can be grown in a simple bushel basket. Plant a different variety in each of several bushel baskets to find out which grow best in your climate as well as taste best.

Black plastic trash bag
Indoor potting soil
Small, sharp knife
Granulated all-purpose fertilizer

Instructions

- 1
  Put a black plastic trash bag into a bushel basket the same way you would put the bag into a trash can. Fold excess over the lip of the basket and extend it down the side.
- 2
  Punch several holes in the plastic on the bottom of the basket so excess water can drain.
- 3
  Mix 1/4 cup of granulated, all-purpose fertilizer into a bucket of good-quality indoor potting soil. Put a 3- to 4-inch layer of this soil into the bottom of the basket.
- 4
  Lay seed potatoes on the soil in the basket. Spaced them about 6 to 8 inches apart.
- 5
  Cover the seed potatoes with 3 to 4 inches of the same soil.
- 6
  Water the container well immediately after planting. Thereafter, water as needed to keep the soil evenly moist.
- 7
  Add additional soil to the basket as the tops of the potatoes grow--always leaving about 3 to 4 inches of top growth above the soil line--until you reach the top of the basket.
- 8
  Harvest potatoes when the tops begin to die down in late summer and early fall. Dump out the contents of the basket into the garden. Locate and remove the potatoes. The soil can remain in the garden bed to help improve its structure and fertility.

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