Sweet Potatoes Planted in a Cardboard Box: Harvest Update

Inside: Remember those sweet potato slips I planted in cardboard boxes? Curious how they did? Well, wonder no more! I tell all in this post about sweet potatoes planted in a cardboard box, harvest update.

Harvesting sweet potatoes in a cardboard box. — One of the cardboard boxes planted with sweet potatoes.

We’re wrapping up the garden this week at A Rural Girl Writes, and with our first hard frost due Thursday, we’re just in the nick of time. The big mystery of Garden Season 2019 was the burning question: How will the sweet potatoes grow in a cardboard box?

Onward. . .

How Did They Grow?

In a word–okay. . .

Sweet potatoes that were grown in a cardboard box. — Not as big as they look. Believe me.

Tiny sweet potatoes. — Tiny sweet potatoes easily fit in the palm of my hand.

These sweet potatoes aren’t as big as they look. All those planted in a cardboard box could fit in my hand easily. Part of the reason for that is the slips were planted late. As in a month past when it would have been best to plant them in our area. As in Fourth of July late. Ideally sweet potatoes should get 120 days. And, really, more than that. My cardboard box-grown sweet potatoes clocked in at 114.

In addition to that problem, I had to be extra cautious where I placed the boxes because I had coons coming into the yard nightly, digging up my containers. Some spots were better than others. Near the steps was safer, as the critters kept away from the front door, but as the season goes, so does the sunlight to that area. Sometime around August I have to do a rearranging of my plants to accommodate the light. As you can imagine, moving the boxes was not an option. Which leads me to my next segment.

Growing Plants in a Cardboard Box?

So I was pretty certain the bottom of the cardboard boxes wouldn’t last the season, and three of them didn’t. We had a lot of rain, which added to the problem. In the article I had linked to which introduced the idea of growing things in a cardboard box, they had said it worked, but upon thinking about it , some of the boxes had twine and sticks glued onto them, which I would guess could extend the life of the box. They also lined some of their boxes with plastic, which would also hold the boxes together longer.

Sweet potato vines grown in cardboard. — This box started falling apart the second week.

A cardboard box used as a grow box. — This box actually held together. Success!

Growing Sweet Potatoes the Conventional Way

One of the reasons I was attracted to the idea of planting in the boxes in the first place was that I thought it would be easy to uncover the potatoes without digging into the ground. . . Well, yeah, that part worked.

At the same time, though, I had extra slips, so I planted those directly into the ground about a week later than those in the boxes. When I harvested them Friday (along with the ones in the boxes), those grown conventionally were actually a little bit bigger than those in the boxes. Not by much, but they had seven fewer days to take advantage of the sun.

Sweet potatoes after digging them up. — Freshly dug sweet potatoes.

Try, Try Again?

Will I do it again? I might try the sweet potato experiment once more, this time with a bigger, sturdier box–or maybe double boxing. And, of course, earlier in the season. Or, I might think outside the box (ha–couldn’t resist) and grow something entirely different in them. Flowers or herbs would likely be ideal.

If I do try, I’ll be sure and let you know!

Stay tuned the rest of this week as we highlight what worked and didn’t work this gardening season.