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How To Build A Potato Box: A Step-By-Step Guide

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Growing potatoes in a box may seem weird and a lot of effort but actually can double and even quadruple your potato yield!

Potatoes are America’s favorite vegetable, so you probably don’t want to go without them. Learning how to build a potato box is an essential skill for a prepper.

You can put the box anywhere and have a reliable food source, even in emergencies. Growing potatoes in a box is just like planting in a raised bed.

These boxes make you more self-sufficient and provide food security, so keep reading to learn to make your own.

Why Should You Consider a Potato Box?

using a potato box

Potatoes are an excellent food for emergency preparedness. They last a long time when stored in a cool pantry. Plus, you can use them in many different meals.

Building a potato box enables you to grow these root vegetables anywhere. You can set them up in a rooftop garden, on your porch, or inside a greenhouse.

Anyone can build one, and the design is versatile, allowing you to change the box’s size for the available space.

Let’s break down all the reasons why you should build a potato box in more detail.

1. You Can Put Them Anywhere

Preppers are everywhere. If you live in an urban area or an apartment complex, you probably don’t have the outdoor space for a vegetable garden.

However, building a potato box will help you use your space efficiently. You can still grow vegetables in these containers since they don’t take up much room.

You can also change the design of your box, adjusting its size to suit your home.

Many people keep them in their gardens, porches, and balconies. Any place you have that gets full sun is ideal.

2. You Can Have Fresh Food in Emergencies

Preppers love potato boxes because they let them grow fresh food. During SHTF situations, you must maintain a balanced diet with vegetables. Growing potatoes is an excellent option for many people.

Harvesting potatoes can make you more self-sufficient. You won’t need to buy them from the store, saving you grocery trips and money.

Potatoes, under the right conditions, also last longer than many other vegetables.

3. You Can Trade Potatoes

fresh potatoes

Next, preppers can trade potatoes with others in emergencies. You can use them as bartering tools for other ingredients and survival essentials.

People like potatoes because they’re a staple in many dishes. This benefit can give you more bargaining power when you have an abundance of them. If you’re the only person growing potatoes, you can get anything you need.

Potatoes also have many other uses for preppers. You can use them to:

4. They’re Easy To Maintain

Potato boxes don’t need much maintenance. You’ll put less work into them than traditional garden beds.

Once you’ve built the box and filled it with earth and potatoes, you only need to water it occasionally. Many preppers keep several potato boxes with minimal effort.

5. You Get a Longer Growing Season

If you do grow potatoes in a garden bed, you can extend their growing season by using these boxes.

To do this, keep the box in a controlled environment, like a greenhouse. You can plant the potatoes earlier and harvest them later. That way, you can get more potatoes.

Building a Potato Box

wood boards for potato box

Making a potato box is easy, even if you don’t have much experience with DIY projects. You can wing most of it, and it should still turn out perfect for growing potatoes.

Essentially, you’ll be creating a box using wooden planks.

Tools and Materials

Here’s everything you’ll need to make your potato box:

  • Untreated wooden planks
  • Saw (if you need to cut the wood to size)
  • Screws or nails
  • Drill or a hammer
  • Landscaping fabric

You’ll also need:

  • Good quality potting soil
  • Seed potatoes

Directions

Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Cut the wood boards to size. They should be as long as you want the box to be.
  2. Nail the ends of two planks together to form a right angle; it should look like an “L.”
  3. Repeat step two with another set of planks.
  4. Nail your two “L’s” together to make a square.
  5. Stand a plank up in each of the corners of the square and nail it there. It should look like a table with no bottom if you flip it over.
  6. Lay the tarp down flat in the box.
  7. Form walls by stacking the rest of your planks along the outside of the box. Only start with a single row before planting your potatoes.

When finished, you’ll have a wooden tower. It’s straightforward and completely customizable, so you won’t need exact measurements if all your wooden planks are the same size.

Using a New Potato Box

How To Build A Potato Box: A Step-By-Step Guide

Once you’ve built a potato box, it’s easy to use. In the directions, we had you stop building the walls at one plank high.

Potato boxes “grow” with the plant, forcing it to climb. So, you don’t want to build the entire box all at once. Instead, add another layer of planks the whole way around the box as the leaves move upwards.

You want a small amount of the plant to still stick out of the top of the box after adding the next layer of wood. Then, fill that space at the bottom with more soil. 

Your final box should be between two and three feet tall. If you go higher than that, it’s harder to water the dirt in the box evenly.

You can pull the tarp out when the potatoes are ready, making it easier to sort through the dirt to find them.

Wrap-Up

Today’s world can be uncertain, but building a potato box can help make you more self-reliant and resilient.

Growing your food can ensure you have fresh vegetables for a long time, no matter the circumstances.

In short, it’s worth it for preppers to learn to make potato boxes! You’ll thank us later.

How To Build A Potato Box: A Step-By-Step Guide