I ordered organic fingerling seed potatoes last spring, and planted them in soil in two 5-gallon buckets, then used pine needles to mound up around the plants as they grew. It took me a long time to get around to harvesting my potatoes, but I wasn't worried; potatoes should be fine being stored in the ground. However, when Ben and I finally got around to it, we were sorely disappointed.
The entirety of my harvest amount to fewer than 2 dozen potatoes, most of them tiny. I had planted 1 lb of potatoes, a mix between French and Red Thumb fingerlings, and had believed promises that every pound of seed potatoes could yield 10-15lbs in harvest. I'm sure they could have, if handled properly; my parents planted a similar amount (from the same lot of seed potatoes) and had a much more substantial harvest.
I still have no idea where I went wrong.
