• Blog
    • General Gardening
    • Gardening for Children
    • Gardening Videos
    • Insect Pests
    • Landscape Design
    • Trees
    • Vegetables & Fruits
    • Weeds
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Event Announcements
  • Gardening Videos
  • Resources
    • Western North Carolina Gardening Guide
    • Online Resources
      • Soil Testing Information for Home Gardeners
    • Speakers Bureau
  • Garden Helpline
    • Collecting Samples of Plants and Insects
  • The Learning Garden
  • About Us
    • About Us
      • How to Become an Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer
    • The Association
    • Contact Us
    • Speakers Bureau
    • Sponsors
      • Sponsors: 2019 WNC Gardening Symposium
    • Donate
Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers of Buncombe County
Blog / Gardening for Children / Kids Post: Growing Potatoes in Buckets

Kids Post: Growing Potatoes in Buckets

June 15, 2016

Who doesn’t love a treasure hunt? Growing potatoes in buckets is the perfect gardening treasure hunt activity both to have fun and encourage kids to love growing their own food. Kids of all ages can participate. June is the end of the potato-planting season in Western North Carolina, so it is a good time to find seed potatoes on sale. Follow this guide to grow your pot of gold (or golden potatoes!).

What you’ll need

  • Seed potatoes. Small potato varieties are best for this project.
  • 5-gallon, food-safe bucket with drainage holes. Recycle bulk food containers or purchase new buckets. Be sure to drill several holes in the bottom before you start your garden.
  • Enough potting soil to fill your bucket—about a half cubic foot. Use potting soil for edible plants—NOT garden soil or potting soils with additives such as moisture-holding crystals.
  • Vegetable fertilizer.

Steps for making your bucket garden

  1. Add 4 inches or so of potting soil to the bucket.
  2. Mix in fertilizer. Read the fertilizer label and add only enough for the amount of soil you’ve just put in the bucket
  3. Space your seed potatoes evenly on top of the soil with the sprout side up.Potatoes_PlantingInBucket
  4. Add another 4 inches or so of potting soil and mix in more fertilizer.
  5. Place your potato garden where it will get full sun for at least 6 hours a day.
  6. Wet the soil until you see water draining out of the bucket. Keep soil moist, but not soggy. You may need to water every day if it doesn’t rain!
  7. Green shoots will grow up. Once the shoots are about 4 inches high, carefully add 2 inches of soil with more fertilizer. Leave just a small green shoot above the soil. Keep adding soil and fertilizer every time the shoots grow up a few inches. Keep the soil watered evenly throughout the growing season.ColoradoPotatoBeetle-larvae
  8. Watch out for pirates! Look for pests eating your potato leaves. The usual suspects are potato beetle larvae and adults. (Even though bugs may like potato plants, the leaves, flowers, seedpods, sprouts and any green flesh are toxic to people.)
  9. Once the plant has grown out of the top of the bucket, flowered, and begun to die back, it is time to harvest! Spread a tarp and spill out the contents of the bucket. Here is the treasure hunt! Dig through the soil to find the potatoes.
  10. Enjoy your harvest! An easy way to cook small potatoes is to toss them in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast them on a baking sheet in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes or so, depending on size.

    Photograph by Dobies Seed Company, Devon, UK
    Photograph by Dobies Seed Company, Devon, UK

Article written by Tish Szurek, Extension Master Gardener Volunteer.

For more about potato beetles, go to https://pender.ces.ncsu.edu/2011/04/check-now-for-colorado-potato-beetles/.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Categories Gardening for Children Tags potato plants, vegetable gardens

NC Cooperative Extension; Empowering People, Providing Solutions

Blog posts written and published by Extension Master GardenerSM volunteers in Buncombe County.

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to our blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 3,716 other subscribers

Recent Posts

  • Saturday Seminar: Pruning Tools Workshop—Tool Selection and Sharpening, February 18
  • Online Seminar: Fruit Trees for Home Gardens February 16
  • Dramatic Winter Damage? What Should I Do?
  • What’s THAT Evergreen? Can I grow it?
  • A Gardening Guide for Our Mountains: The Perfect Holiday Stocking Stuffer

Categories

  • Events
    • Extension in Buncombe County
    • Extension Master Gardener Plant Clinic
    • Lectures & Seminars
    • Plant Sales
    • School Garden Grants
  • Flowers
    • Bulbs
    • Perennials & Biennials
    • Roses
    • Wildflowers
  • Gardening for Children
  • Gardening Videos
  • General Gardening
    • Installation & Planting
    • Mulch
    • Native Plants
    • Propagation
    • Seasonal Chores
    • Soils & Fertilizers
  • Houseplants
  • Landscaping
    • Firewise Landscaping
    • Landscape Design
    • Site Conditions
    • Water Management
  • Lawns
  • Pest Management
    • Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
    • Invasive Plants
    • Pesticides
    • Weeds
  • Plant Diseases
  • Plant Insects
    • Beneficial Insects
    • Insect Pests
    • Invasive Insects
  • Shrubs
  • Special Gardens
    • Container Gardens
    • Herb Gardens
    • Pollinator Gardens
    • Rain Gardens
    • Shade Gardens
  • Trees
  • Vegetables & Fruits
  • Wildlife

Contact Us

Buncombe County Extension Office
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville, NC 28806
Helpline 828-255-5522

Events

Keep up with our events by subscribing to the blog or checking our Events Calendar.

Explore the Archives

Back to Top

Copyright © 2023 Extension Master Gardeners of Buncombe County. Privacy Policy.