TL DR- Will Russet potatoes grow in 8" of soil and/or in the hole/spaces of cinder blocks?

At our old home, 1/3 of the back yard was a big garden.  I had ~50 tomato plans, 30 pepper plants, cukes, zukes, lettuce, eggplant, basil.  However, at this home, I kinda took a break from gardening over the past 10-12 years.  This year, I bought a bunch of cinder blocks, has two tons of mushroom compost delivered and put a thick layer of cardboard under everything prior to setting it up.  But now I have a 4'x12' garden.  Unfortunately, I started the seeds indoors way too soon and the first round all died.  Then I experimented with planting some seeds in the ground garden 2-3 weeks ago.  When I didn't see any sprouts over the week, I got antsy and just went and bought a few plants (3 tomato, watermelon, strawberry, cuke, and zucchini) just so we might have something to eat fresh.  At the same time I started germinating more seeds inside as another effort to diversify.  

Well the weather warmed up significantly over the past week and everything except the peppers and tomatoes have started sprouting and looks VERY healthy!! We are going to have a metric fuck ton of fruits and veggies if this keeps up!!! All the seeds I thoughts were dead are not very healthy and growing exponentially!  So we'll have 20 stalks of sweet corn (no clue if we'll actually get any corn), 2 golden cherry tomato, 3 strawberry, 3-4 watermelon, 1-3 beefsteak tomato, jalapeno pepper plant, 4-5 cuke, 4-5 yellow squash, 3 zucchini, a bunch of carrots, radishes, and onions.  Not sure if the basil is coming up yet.  

However, I also have some potatoes and would like to try my hand at growing those.  I have 3-4 old potatoes that I've sectioned and have dried/scabbed over (to protect from mold) over the past few days.  All sections have eyes but only two sections have very healthy/developed eyes.  Again, this is just to experiment, but I have a 2'x3' space in the middle of the garden AND I have multiple cinder block holes/spaces I can plant them in.  However, the depth of the soil at this point is about 8", the ground is heavily layered in cardboard, and I do have the option to stack a few cinder blocks 2 high if 16" of depth (in the cinder block's holes) would be better for potatoes.  But for those with experience, what are your thoughts on how to go about planting these?   In the cinder block holes?  Double up cinder blocks?  Plant in the middle of the garden?  

Please share your experience and suggestions.

Thanks!

Then why does full English breakfast include tomato slices?

You can grow potatoes in 5 gallon buckets so...

@Emt1581

We're gonna start potatoes soon too, 15x30 at the moment but plenty of space to spread out

Cucumbers zucchini, tomatoes 6 types of peppers, cork, onions, melons, peas, green beans already in the ground corn watermelons and carrots started from seed, everything else is small plants.

I have some onions and potatoes yet we are cutting and planting.

5 gallon buckets that are only filled with 8" of soil or....?

How deep is your soil and are you growing the potatoes in rows or in smaller spaces/containers?  

Thanks

Yeah I would imagine you can grow potatoes in 8".  1 per and plant it with 4" under it and then 2" on top. Add the final 2" when they get 3" tall.

In thinking about it, seems like they would yield more and bigger potatoes if in rows rather than in the cinder block holes.  But won't cost me anything to try both I suppose.  

Thanks

Because British Empire!

How many potatoes are you going to plant?  If only 4-5, plant shallow and go up.  Hundreds?  Put them in rows .

Theyll grow, or not grow based on the available plot size. You wouldnt get much of a yield in the amount of space you described, but maybe you only want fingerlings? I'd try something like this instead.

"british empire" includes more than one island

potato, tomato

"lets call the whole thing off"

How exactly do potatoes grow?  Plant a chunk with eyes and the eyes sprout plants, but then were do the new taters come from?

All tubers are root vegetables, the potatoes will grow underground.

I don't mean to be a dick and please forgive me if I sound like that but you are atleast 30 years old as of your join date.... and your asking where potatoes come from?   Shall I explain the baby process as well?

OK rant off. Sorry man but we do have to keep each other honest every once in a while.

This is not scientific at all here, we're digging 6-8 inch holes about 18" apart, filling it with mushroom soil and stuffing a sprouting potato piece in it. Push the other dirt back over it all and water profusely. This is going into an area that is a combo of backfill and clay with a good layer of topsoil over it. Topsoil is of the very dark brown variety. Honestly I've don't tomatoes and peppers before. This is the first time we're branching out so much cause I don't want to starve to death under a democrat.

I think the holes in cinder blocks are going to be to small, they will grow but the yield will be small. Our soil isn’t great for potatoes but we still get 2 x 3 lbs / plant spread out about a foot in every direction from center. They take up space.