Potatoes In 5-Gallon Buckets

It’s that time of year that we gardeners are busy preparing our gardens for a bountiful harvest. I’ve been one of those said gardeners preparing my raised beds and traditional garden.

I, like most, are skeptical about growing potatoes in 5-gallon buckets but I’m posting a couple of photos today to share how my two buckets are doing.

In the first photo everyone will see a tiny speck of green leaves at the bottom of the photo and a small set at the top of the photo; this bucket is planted with German Butterball potatoes that I ordered and was shipped a week ago, so the growth is not as pronounced as what I’m sharing in the second photo.

My new German Butterball Potatoes

In the second photo are my potatoes from last season Russet Potatoes which started sprouting in my basement and as everyone can see the growth is about several weeks along.

Last Season Russet Potatoes

When growing potatoes in a 5-gallon bucket I used two that I had purchased at Home Depot. I drilled several holes in the bottom, filled a layer of small river rocks in the bottom, cut and layered a piece of black landscaping paper (one can use several layers of newspapers also). Then I layered 2 inches of a good garden soil mixed with a little bit of worm castings (for fertilizer) and placed three small seed potatoes (sprouts up) and covered with a couple of inches of soil. You want to keep covering the sprouts until you get to the top of the bucket and then just let your potato plant grow and produce your potatoes.

I hope everyone will try growing potatoes in a 5-gallon bucket, it’s affordable and so easy to do.