How to grow potatoes in containers: grow bags, buckets and the hilling trick

If you grow only one food for resilience, make it potatoes, and you do not need a field: a patio and a few fabric bags will do.

By the OFF Grid Journal staff · October 8, 2026 · 5 min read
Based on Project 39 of The Off-Grid Handbook by Garrett Dalton

To grow potatoes in containers, fill a 10 to 15 gallon grow bag one-third full of compost-rich mix and plant 3 or 4 certified seed potato pieces, eyes up, about 4 inches deep. As the plants grow, keep adding mix or straw around the stems, water deeply and evenly, and tip the bag out at harvest. Expect roughly 5 to 10 pounds of potatoes per bag.

The Off-Grid Handbook makes potatoes its first calorie crop for a reason. They are one of the densest common sources of calories per square foot and they store for months; USDA nutrient data puts raw potatoes at about 350 calories per pound. Six bags on a patio, as Project 39 lays out, is a real buffer rather than a garnish.

What you need

• Four to six fabric grow bags, 10 to 15 gallons each.
• Certified seed potatoes, not sprouted potatoes from the grocery store.
• Compost-rich potting mix, plus straw for hilling.
• A trowel and a watering can, or a drip line.

The book puts the materials at about $40. The seed potatoes matter most: University of Minnesota Extension advises buying disease-free seed tubers from a certified grower, because grocery potatoes may be treated to stay dormant and will be slow to grow.

How to plant potatoes in grow bags

1. Prepare the seed. Plant small seed potatoes whole. Cut larger ones into chunks with two or three eyes each.
2. Start low. Fill each bag only one-third full of mix. The empty space above is where the crop will form.
3. Plant. Set 3 to 4 pieces per bag, eyes up, and cover them so they sit about 4 inches deep.
4. Place the bags in full sun, on a patio, a driveway edge or a strip of yard.
5. Water in well and keep the mix evenly moist from the start.

Hilling potatoes in a container

Hilling is the step that makes container potatoes work. Each time the plants reach about 8 inches, add mix or straw around them, burying the stems, and repeat until the bag is filled to about two-thirds of the plant's height.

The book sums up the logic in one line: buried stem becomes root becomes potatoes. Hilling also keeps the forming tubers in the dark, which matters because light turns potato skin green.

Straw is lighter than mix and makes the final harvest cleaner. Either works, as long as no tubers are left exposed to the sun.

Grow bags vs. buckets

Any container with drainage will grow potatoes. The difference is how much room the roots get and how fast the container dries out.

If you have the ground, the same crop also anchors a 4x8 raised garden bed. Bags win where the only space is paved.

Watering potatoes in containers

Containers dry out fast, and potatoes punish uneven watering. Irregular water splits tubers, the book warns, and University of Minnesota Extension notes that swings between too much and too little water cause hollow heart, a hole in the center of the potato.

Water deeply so the whole bag is wet, then water again before it dries out completely. In hot weather that can mean every day. A drip line fed from a raised tank, like the one in a gravity-fed water system, takes the daily chore off your list, and a rain barrel can supply it.

Harvesting and curing potatoes

When to harvest

• New potatoes: reach in and take a few small ones once the plants flower.
• Main crop: wait until about two weeks after the vines die back, so the skins firm up.
• Harvest: tip the whole bag into a wheelbarrow and sort the potatoes out by hand. No digging, and no fork tines through the crop.

Set aside any damaged potatoes for eating soon, since injured tubers spoil in storage.

Curing and storing

Before storage, potatoes need to cure so the skins set and small wounds heal. The book calls for about two weeks in a dark, ventilated spot; University of Minnesota Extension gives 60 to 65°F for ten days or more.

After curing, store them dark, cold and humid. Extension guidance gives 32 to 40°F at high humidity, which is the job of a root cellar. Cut away green areas before cooking, do not eat potatoes that are extensively green, and remove any sprouts, which can be toxic.

Keep a few notes on each bag: planting date, variety, harvest weight. Next year's plan starts from those numbers.

Common container potato problems

• Green potatoes. The tubers saw light. Hill sooner and deeper, and check that none are pushing up at the surface.
• Knobby or hollow potatoes. University of Minnesota Extension links both to a lack of moisture early on, and hollow heart to swings between wet and dry. Water on a schedule, not when you remember.
• Few tubers. Dry spells in early growth can stop the plant from setting new tubers, per the same source. Too little sun or too small a container also cuts the harvest.
• Slow, weak plants. Often grocery potatoes treated to stay dormant. Start next year with certified seed.