I have never done this, but I have read about it may times. If you take a large trash can (with drainage holes drilled in) and fill it with 10-12 inches of soil. Then you plant your seed potatoes eye up (I think it was eye up....) I cant remember how many you can plant, but I seam to remember that they can be pretty close together. Then as the plant grows a bit you fill up the trash can up to the first set of leaves (the more roots they have the more potatoes they produce). You continue to do this until the dirt is above the trash can line in a mound. Make sure that the mound is lower around the edge of the trash can so that you can water. Then when ever you want to harvest the potatoes just dig down a bit and you have potatoes. Or you can dump everything out onto a tarp and get them all at once. There is another way to do it with wire caging and straw, but it seams much more complicated than filling up a trash can. Onions can be easily be grown in containers, it can be a small operation with one onion per small plastic pot or much larger. My grandfather grows all sorts of stuff in plastic feed troughs with holes drilled in, meant for horses and cattle purchased at the local hardware store. I would imagine that one or two feed troughs for give you plenty of onions. As an added bonus they are raised almost to waist height so you donÂt have to bend down hardly at all. I use old black heavy duty nursery pots for my plants. They arenÂt pretty but they were free and work great. I wouldnÂt personally grow potatoes in a bag, because you would have no way to Âmound up the soil, therefore increasing your yield . I have herd of people doing this with tomatoes pretty successfully so I guess you could use it for onions, but I think it would be easer and more successfully donÂt in containers. Either way good luck and congratulations on the new house.

If you are growing them in containers then a good container soil-less potting mix is what you need to use. No way around it and your container supplier makes note of the need to use one. You can buy good mixes or you can make your own with purchased ingredients. Several mix recipes posted over on the Container gardening forum. But dirt (garden soil) compacts in containers and doesn't drain well leading to root rot and minimal production. Using it is a hex on the plants from day one. Dave

Potatoes in bags? Question has already been answered. Rodney

Can you tell us some more about what you have done in the past and what the results were? Potatoes are generally rather forgiving when it comes to soil. Yes, you have hit on the primary quality - "well drained". They like soil that is moist, but not wet. That means that you want to avoid potting soils that are designed to retain water. Rather than hold on to water, you want it to wet the soil and for the excess to drain away. This means potatoes in containers will need to be watered every day when it gets warm. Also, "well draining" applies to the container as well. A fabric pot is ideal. A plastic container with a single hole at the bottom is not so good. Also potatoes grow vertically and like depth in a container. You will start with 6 inchers of soil under the potatoes and then cover them with about 4 inches when you plant. BUT - you want at least another 6 to 12 inches above that for additional soil/compost/mulch. The thick mulch is crucial - it will keep the soil from drying out so fast in the summer, and regulate the soil temperature. It will also encourage the plant to put out more tubers in the mulch.