Potatoes are one of the most rewarding crops you can grow. They’re easy to plant, very productive, and surprisingly adaptable. In fact, potatoes are one of those plants you can grow in almost anything as long as the container has room, drainage, and enough soil. Gardeners grow them in raised beds, buckets, grow bags, trash cans, and repurposed containers.
One clever option is growing potatoes in laundry baskets. This method is really useful if you don’t have a lot of planting space. Laundry baskets are cheap, easy to find, and large enough to grow a good crop. They also make it easier to manage drainage, and the setup makes harvesting a lot easier.
I came across this idea on the YouTube channel Diane’s Garden Inspiration, where she showed how to grow potatoes in Dollar Tree laundry baskets step by step. It’s a simple, budget-friendly project that looks both practical and fun. You can watch the video and read the instructions below.
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What You Need
- Laundry baskets
- Potting soil or garden soil
- Compost
- Seed potatoes
- Newspaper
- Garbage bags
- Scissors
- Bone meal or garden fertilizer (optional)
- Water
- Chicken wire (optional, if pets may disturb the baskets)
How to Grow Potatoes in Laundry Baskets
1. Start With Seed Potatoes
Choose seed potatoes from a garden center. If the potatoes are large, cut them into pieces, making sure each piece has at least one “eye.”
After cutting them, let the pieces sit out until the cut sides dry and form a firm, scab-like surface. This is important because freshly cut seed potatoes can rot if planted too soon.
2. Line The Basket With Newspaper
Place newspaper inside the laundry basket before fitting in the plastic liner.
The newspaper helps protect the potatoes from too much heat. In hot, sunny climates, black plastic can get very warm, so the newspaper adds a buffer. It’s also biodegradable, which makes it a practical material for this setup.
3. Prepare The Laundry Basket
Take a garbage bag and cut it down to fit inside the laundry basket as a liner.
Then cut several holes in the garbage bag. Potatoes need good drainage, and the holes allow excess water to escape. Be generous with the holes so the soil doesn’t stay too wet.
4. Roll The Liner Down
Once the liner and newspaper are in place, open the bag and roll the top edges down inside the basket.
This creates a shorter planting container to start with. Later, as the potato plants grow, you can gradually unroll the liner and add more soil.
5. Add the First Layer of Soil
Put a layer of soil in the bottom of the lined basket.
Mix in some compost to enrich the soil. If you want, add a little bone meal or garden fertilizer as well.
6. Place the Seed Potatoes
Lay the seed potatoes on top of the soil.
Space them out as evenly as possible. You can put several potatoes in each basket, depending on the size of the basket.
7. Cover With Soil
Add more soil over the seed potatoes until they are covered.
At this stage, you’re simply burying the seed pieces so they can begin sprouting.
8. Water the Basket
Water the soil well after planting.
This helps settle the soil around the seed potatoes and gives them the moisture they need to start growing.
9. Keep Adding Soil as the Plants Grow
As the potato plants sprout and grow taller, continue the process:
- Unroll the bag a little more
- Add more soil around the stems
- Keep covering the lower part of the plants as they grow
Repeat this until the basket is filled to the top.
This layering process is one of the key parts of growing potatoes in containers. It gives the plants more room to produce potatoes along the buried stems.
10. Protect the Basket if Needed
If you have curious pets, cover the baskets with chicken wire until the plants get established.
This is optional, but it can keep cats or other animals from digging in the fresh soil and making a mess.
11. Water and Monitor the Plants
Keep an eye on the baskets and water as needed throughout the growing season.
The goal is to keep the soil consistently moist but not soggy.
12. Harvest When the Plants Die Back
Once the potato plants grow, flower, and begin to die back, it is time to harvest.
That die-back is your sign that the potatoes are ready. Harvesting container-grown potatoes is often easier than digging them out of a traditional garden bed, which is one reason this method is so appealing.
A Few More Tips
- Make sure drainage holes stay open.
- Don’t plant freshly cut potatoes before they have dried and healed.
- Use compost to improve the soil and give the plants a better start.
- Place the baskets in a sunny location.
- Check moisture regularly, especially in warm weather.
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