Growing potatoes in a small space

Even if you don’t have much space, you can still get a really good crop of spuds. All you need is a deep container that you can pop in a sunny corner of your garden.

Make sure the container is wide (around 50-60cm works well) and deep (approx 50cm). Big buckets, stacks of tyres or old wheelbarrows work really well, as long as you make sure there are drainage holes at the base. Fill the container half full with compost, then pop the seed potatoes on top and cover with 10cm compost. You can easily plant 5-6 seed potatoes into a container.

When you see the first foliage peeping up over the compost, “earth up” your potatoes by covering the green shoots with an extra layer of compost. Repeat this several times over the following weeks until the pot is full, then just let them grow on. If you are using old tyres, we’d suggest stacking 2 tyres initially and planting the potatoes, then add an extra tyre and compost when you are ready to earth up.

Once the potatoes are ready to harvest, you can simply tip over the container to get to your crop. It’s a very easy way to grow potatoes, and you’ll be surprised at how many you can get.