This is our second year of trying to grow potatoes in barrels to supplement what we grow in beds. The in-ground potatoes dod well but the barrels produced only a few small potatoes. I'm trying to figure out why. We put good compost in.

We were a little confused abut the directions for barrel potatoes, which said that whenever the plants protruded 4 inches above the soil they should be buried to 2 inches. The problem was that we had several potatoes in the barrel, and some plants tended to be more than 6 inches ahead of others. This year we opted for not completely burying the shortest ones. Should we have kept the tallest ones covered instead?

If any of you have had good experiences with potatoes and have time to share tips I'd be very grateful.