How to Build Potato Bins

Step 1: Go to Home Depot or similar to buy materials.

At Home Depot, I found a 12-foot 2x4 for about $5, six 6-foot 5/8x3.5 cedar boards for about $1.50 each, and a small box (need 48 screws) of 1-5/8 screws also for around $5 making the total project about $19 with screws left over. (You will need about 12 more cedar boards by the end of the summer and would be wise to buy them all now.)

Home Depot also has the excellent service of cutting boards for you for free, both helping the lumber fit in a compact car, and expediting the project. Have the cedar boards cut to make 4-ft and 2-ft pieces (approximately. As long as they are all the same the length is not specific) and have the 12-ft 2x4 cut into quarters, or four 3-ft sections approximately (again, as long as they are all the same as each other). 

You will also want a drill with a bit a little smaller than the screws and an appropriate screw driver. I used battery powered tools as pictured above. 

Step 2: Go home and screw it all together.

Pre-drill then screw the 2-ft cedar board to the short side of the 2x4s. Match up the corners as well and square as possible with your eye and attach with only one screw in the corners. We will make it square later before adding a second screw. 

Move to the second side and repeat so the 2-ft cedar board is spanning between the short edges of the 2x4. Again pre-drill and screw in corners. Repeat to attach another 2-ft cedar board to the other ends of the 2x4s.

There should now be a full frame. Use a tape measure to measure diagonally from corner to corner in both directions. Tweak the frame until both the diagonal measurements are the same (upper left to lower right, upper right to lower left). Then add a second screw to each corner to secure. 

Repeat for second potato-bin end with the other pair of 2x4s and 2-ft cedar boards. Once both end frames are complete, stand them on end so the 2-ft cedars are vertical and both frames are parallel about 4-ft apart with the wide end of a 2x4 against the ground. Connect the frames using the 4-ft cedars and repeating the steps of drilling, screwing, squaring, and adding a second screw to each corner. Flip over and repeat to complete the bin. 

Potato bins in place, planted with potatoes. Also pictured, beginning of retaining wall to hold in garden beds in newly fenced corner of garden. To plant potatoes we had to build a fence, a wall, and bins. Those better be some good potatoes!

Step 3: Install and fill the bins. 

Once complete, carry the frames out to the desired location. If grass is present, cover the ground with brown paper bags or similar. Place bins on brown paper bags cedar side down with 2x4s standing upright. Fill to top of cedar board with compost. Evenly space 6 to 8 potatoes on the dirt. Screw on a second level of cedar boards above the bottom frame. Cover the potatoes in more compost to fill this second level. 

Step 4: Tend the potatoes.

As the potatoes grow, add more levels of cedar siding and fill in with dirt, covering the bottom 2/3 of the potato plant. When the bin is filled with dirt and the potato plants are dying off in fall, unscrew the added boards, spread the compost on your surrounding garden, and dig out your potatoes! Next year, move the frame to a new garden bed and fill again to continue fertilizing your gardens and growing healthy potatoes.