Pet Potato Project Part ???

I've been horrendously sick with back to back Martian flu bugs the last few weeks, so I haven't been able to do as much around the house as I had wanted. After being laid up for a week and a half I couldn't take it anymore!!! I absolutely HAD to get one of my outdoor projects done, fever and leaking nose or not! Thankfully my fever, my Girlchild and the unrelenting heat and humidity cooperated. 
I had been taking pictures of the potato vine to keep track of how much it had grown. About 3-4 weeks ago it was only an inch above the dirt. Then suddenly.... ZIIIPPP!! It was a LOT, LOT more.
This thing has been transplanted more than an Army brat, so I was hoping to make this the last time this summer I touched it, letting it grow until it was harvested later on.
We bought a pot at Target that was sufficiently attractive but also heavy duty plastic so I wouldn't have to worry about it potentially shattering in the winter cold the way a clay pot might, and also probably shelled out $80 less. Seen here, you can see the difference in height. It was also wider by several inches, allowing for outward root expansion and tuber room.

And you can see what a monster the potato vine turned in to.

I had initially been thinking my way through several scenarios where I planted the vine and it couldn't get sunlight, so was envisioning setting it up at an angle to catch sunlight, starting the potato on top of Styrofoam that I dug out slowly from the bottom to lower it in.... but that really wasn't a problem by the time I compared the two.

Yeah. It's almost to the top already.

It'll be able to get sunshine juuuuuust fine. It's about an inch below the rim of the pot already, which now has me concerned it'll run out of room almost immediately.
The Dirt Princess was on hand to make sure that the soil was properly aerated, stealing dirt from the "master pot" I had filled to put around the potato vine once it was in the pot.

Don't mind me, Momma, I'm over here being adorbz.

So the first problem to address was the complete lack of drainage in the pot. The sheer amount of rain and humidity had already killed off my basil plants in a pot that HAD drainage and several of my herb seedlings, so keeping it from being waterlogged was a priority.

 Easily dealt with, we have a very handy drill set. I chose the 1/4 drill bit. The worst part of it was apparently the noise, but once I showed the Dirt Princess what I was doing, she was fascinated, watching the annoying little curls of plastic rise up out of the base and snap off. The entire thing was done in 2 minutes, tops.

Behold, the wonder I have wrought with power tools.

Now, had this been pottery I would've tried the same thing but using water and at a muuuuuuuch slower speed. I've heard people say "Use a masonry bit". Well... I don't have one of those, but I HAVE drilled excruciatingly slowly through a glazed pot with only a few small flakes around the hole to show for it. So I know it can be done. Just a handy tip. And don't press down too hard or you'll crack it in half. Just generally BE DELICATE WITH THE THING!
At that point we got rid of the drill and its accompanying bag o' bits before it could become a potting soil receptacle, the fate of any open receptacle on the porch when my precocious daughter decides to spread it around and share with the plants. Or the citronella candles.
I followed up with an extra two or three inches of soil at the base, oh-so-carefully tipped the plant out of its previous post, and set it in the bottom. It was shored up at the side with more potting soil, then I began the complete guesswork of filling the dirt in around the potato vine, using it to hold up and separate the now two arms of it and give them space to grow outward.

Dirt Princess shown here working on her own private and intensive project with wiry potato vine next door.

The problem is, most tutorials online assume you haven't waited while your vine bolted and you've been diligent covering it every two inches or so. AKA - you know what the hell you're doing and you're properly prepared. HAH. I managed to find one article that said once you had seven inches, bury it and keep on top of things until it reached the top of your container courtesy of Gardening Know How, Article found (here). All other references to potato vines involved sweet potatoes. Those are another devil I want to tackle, once I get a potato that creates slips and doesn't just rot instead.
It took several trips to get soil in the pot I could carry up and down the deck stairs (I will not miss those deck stairs, seriously) but eventually we had a mostly potted potato vine, looking pretty dandy.

Shown for scale on its side, the large blue pot I filled with potting soil three times to go around the potato plant.

I'm glad to get this off of my checklist of things, as we are moving on the 7th and I need everything to be transplanted by then so the plants can be moved in to their mostly permanent summer/fall homes at our new place.
I moved it in to its location where it'll get morning and early afternoon sun without an issue, and I know I have a spot at our next place that will allow for the same. And because I had been so gently placing soil in around the plant, the Dirt Princess promptly volunteered with her own soil she had been diligently spreading around and aerating, adding the last inch to the top of the soil. It was really neat to have her helping!

Look at my cool little helper!

Am I doing this wrong? Probably. But the guides I read online are very hazy about exactly what happens with the vine when you put it in dirt so I don't know for sure if it's going to be a glorious success or it's going to rot and die horribly in the next few weeks. But given how much it's fought through to get to where it is now and how gentle we were about transplanting it this time, I think in the very least I may get a next generation potato to use for next year. Barring that, I have experience and this will be more fun to try again later.
I did see a video where a man just placed wire mesh around the potato plant and literally dumped a bucket of dirt over top of it without preamble or care, explaining that it would grow up through all of that and continue to do so with each successive bucket. That has me thinking that I may be treating it TOO delicately, if anything. If this thing starts to go monster on me again, I may add a mesh cage and more dirt to get a few more inches and a few more potatoes out of it. I just have this crazy dream of making a potato dynasty out of something my daughter swiped from the grocery store, you know?? I'm looking forward to seeing potato blossoms for the first time in my life come August/September.
It felt good to be outside, although it left me very winded and dizzy after all of the carrying and hefting. An incoming cloudburst was the only thing that sent us inside afterward, otherwise I would be trying to transplant the pumpkins and watermelon seedlings that are already getting leggy on me.
There's just something about getting my hands in soil and helping living things get larger that makes me happy and content, and I needed that in the midst of growing pregnancy pains and battling illness. If I'm feeling better tomorrow, I may use the very last of my potting soil to transplant a few things and move some teddy-bear sunflowers to a more permanent home.