What about camouflaging the container? Some of the cheap bamboo type blinds used as a covering might make the apparatus you use look quite nice. Chickenwire with straw would probably work great, covered in the bamboo blinds. You can also get rolls of the bamboo stuff at homestores (but the miniblinds would be much cheaper)

GGG

I've alway meant to do the chicken wire and straw technique. Maybe I'll get to it this year.

Thanks! I have been reading about this online. Tell me, in the process of "hilling" the potatoes, do you just cover the leaves -- or pinch them off?

Add more soil or straw up around the stems. You can cut off leaves around where you pile, but you don't have to. What happens is that the plant makes potatoes fairly close to the surface. So you hill up the stem and get another load going while those on the bottom get bigger....Since our potato season is so short here in Georgia, it's the best way to get the most potato.

I think you have got plenty of good suggestions.
YES, growing potatoes is very easy.
YES, they need full sun. Do not worry about winds, if there is no danger of frost.
I would just grow them in garden, not container. If you want to make it fun for the kids, put a 14-16 ring tire around each. (But you have to have several big hole on the side/face that sits on the ground.) once they are up, pack around and between the stems with nice fluffy soil, straws or a combination(I would do combo). plant about 3 seeds per tire, spaced properly. Note: you plant seeds in the ground first and then add tire later.
In GA, I found out that you have to plant them as early as you can, so you harvest them before it get real hot(early -mid july).
So here is what you can do: Get your seeds greened(sprouted in a window sill, kitchen ..), when they hase sprouts .5 to 1", plant them 8 -10" deep, cover with 3" soil. This you can do in mid march(2-3 weeks before last frost date). You have to protect them when they are up, in case there is a danger of frost.
If you don't use tires, just hill them couple of times, up to 10-12" high. water them from base. only the roots need water and nutrients not the parts hilled.
If you liked it, plant a second round in early August for fall harvest.
Potatoe are like tomatoes. But their fruts grow on the stems in the ground. But unlike tomatoes , they like cool night and cool soil(Under55- 65F optimum).

I'm also determined to do a plot of potatoes this year. I have a spot about 5ft by 5ft. Will that be big enough to get a meaningful eating crop for a family of 4?

Also, I have no straw but lots of chopped partially rotted leaves available. Can I use those to hill up the plants instead of straw?

in a 5' by 5' plot, probablt you can manage to have(3 x 5 =) 15 hills. Now it all depends on what kind of yield you will have and what your family needs are. Lets say you get 3lbs per hill. That be be a total of 45lbs crop. Just a ball park figure.