Potato growing bags

[nots so bad lad]

thanks chaps

sound advice great my faith in human nature restored

[andrewo]

Potato Bins

I use big plastic bins, I have two varieties, one with no bottoms so that they are a long tube and normal bins (also buckets for pink fur/anya). I use a mixture of compost and pellet manure, along with a feed of comfrey and they do me well. My cara last year was magnific!!! Also, I know when I've watered them enough as the water comes out the bottom! Bags are great but if you have a small garden they take up alot of room, bins take up less and have a greater depth (even buckets I have found have given me a greater yield than grow bags - even compost bags have been better).

My maxim is if its free use that first and see if it works.

Andrewo

[Green Great]

I believe that most people would not want to grow potatoes in bag's anyway but for someone with limited space im sure it would be ideal.

[Pilsbury]

I have very limited soil space but love my potatoes so think i will have to give this a go, like the idea of pots but the bags realy do seem worth a try. Any variety that would work best in these conditions or are they all wirth a go?

[andrewo]

Potato

I have discovered that Nadine hate bags and barrels but Anya, Pink Fur and Cara love them. I planted only two of Cara in one barrel last year and harvested them around Sept and we are still eating them now!

Andrewo

[nick the grief]

I've grown Winston (1st early) in bags and they say that Swift (1st early) is good as it's a short grower.

This year I shall mostly be trying Winston & Rocket in bags and Picasso & Maxine in tubs

I've got some Nadine Andrew and was going to try them, but maybe I won't now.

ntg

[andrewo]

Nick,
I gave them all the same amount of water, same pots etc. I grew Cara, Nadine, Maris Peer and Pink Fur. Nadine was a terrible crop - shame as I grew them in the ground last year and they did well - I didn't even get 1/4 of a bucket from a barrel.

Andrewo

[JennieAtkinson]

Hope this isn't a silly question, but how deep do the bags need to be?

[nick the grief]

Deep as you like Jennie,

A lot of folk use the old compost bags and put some soil or compost in the bottom, spuds then cover with a bit more. When the shoots grow thru, just un roll a bit more bag and keelk topping them up.

I know someone who uses the black florist buckets for his and says they work well

ntg

[andrewo]

I have only ever used compost bags - nice to recycle them and just rolled them up as I topped them up (poke it with a fork for drainage holes). The proper ones I saw the allotment were bucket size (so I tended to just use buckets with drainage holes). I now use old plastic bins, if I had the space I would cut the botton off to make harvesting easier on the back.

Andrewo

[sewer rat]

Am gonna grow Foremost in buckets this year - have read somewhere recently that it performs well when grown like this. Glad to hear Pink Fir Apple does well in bags and buckets - am growing this as well and if I have enough buckets it may stray from the bed to bucket. My other earlies are Arran Pilot and British Queen (second early). AP will be bucket only, BQ will be both bed and bucket, Maincrop Rooster will be bed only and I've already covered PFA.
Rat

[matt1267]

Best time to plant

Hi,
Im totally new to this potato growing lark, but saw monty growing them in bags last year on gardeners world. Im going to give it a go, but when is best time to plant them or does it depend on which variety?

Thanks
Matt

[eskymo]

Converted

As for my last post about growing potatoes in those potato spud tubs - see previous post. I'm now converted, as cash is very low at the moment and I've got tons of old compost bags - being the type not keen on throwing anything away!

I've opted for Pentalnd Javlin and Desiree this year as B&Q were selling them and a friend recomended PJ as a good type to grow for my area.

It's a sunny day today [amazingly!] - not had one of those for a while. I want to get out to the garden and start doing stuff, but unfortunately got to work today on a design project and got a client coming round in 5mins - Bummer!!!!

[dwrudd]

I grew six varieties in bags last year as I have very limited soil space, rocket were a bit of a disappointment in the volume of return, but anya, charlotte and pink fir apple were brilliant. The Charlotte were probably the best new potato that I have ever grown and first on my list this year.

Darren

[nick the grief]

Just planted 6 bags in the greenhouse.
2 x Rocket
2 x Winston
2 x Charlotte

May do some more in a couple of weeks then hopefully the rest can go in the plot!!!