Disappointing first harvest, what did I do wrong?

[Sue]

Phil66
It's worth growing potatoes in bags if a} your ground needs preparing, you can put them on the top of cardboard covered weeds or b} you haven't got any growing space or c} you have a use for all the spent compost for mulching, adding to heavy clay soils etc.

So for three years I've grown in bags and tubs, sifting the used compost and then putting back in tubs to grow carrots which do very well in it. After the carrots are out I've used the compost to add to my very, very heavy clay soil so the extra expense has been worth it. Now I've got the ground prepared and have a good supply of home-made compost my potatoes are now being grown in the ground (mostly) I grow the late ones in big tubs as they preserve well in the cold weather, even with frost and I can dig them out as I want, keeps them lovely and fresh.

Sue

[maytreefrannie]

I think part of the problem is being encouraged to earth up so much on first and second earlies, when they don't really have time to grow another batch of potatoes further up the stem before the tops die off. Really, you'd be better off with a bigger space in surface area rather than height. But it also means that a lot of compost is 'wasted' earthing up where the only potatoes you get are very small, and, the plant grows a lot more stalk, and 'top' than it needs.

I believe that's what happened with mine - the foliage was huge but the potatoes that were there were mostly near the bottom of the bin, they hadn't grown fully up to the top, so loads of roots, not so many spuds. The variety was Bambino and they lived up to their name, they were very small.

The plus side of course is that they were delicious.

[LizyDrippin]

I've grown a couple of tubs of tatties this year, my neighbour had extra seed potatoes and I had a couple of empty pots, so I tought why not

My question is, are the "seeds" any good for anything? They look quite nice like little grapes or should I cut them off?

[GardenAngel]

My container potatoes have been disappointing this year too compared to my previous years crops the plant died back very early.

Will use Sue's tip and reuse the soil for carrots - thanks

[zazen999]

I've grown a couple of tubs of tatties this year, my neighbour had extra seed potatoes and I had a couple of empty pots, so I tought why not

My question is, are the "seeds" any good for anything? They look quite nice like little grapes or should I cut them off?

They are posionous so you can't eat them.....but some of us did this with them:

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...9-a_20577.html

[RobintheBobin]

My early tatties in the ground were so bad I only got one per plant...yes really!!!

Thoughts: they were planted in a space near a hedge so I think that it leeched all the water and goodness from the soil. I also probably didn't water them enough at the right time over that hot period we had in June. Oh well. Live and learn. I've now put some very unassuming lettuces in their place

[Mac]

I did a mixture of in the ground and in tattie bags. In the ground - averaged one massive spud per plant and a couple of tiddlers (variety - Rocket); in the planters - average five spuds per plant, nice salad size (variety - Pentland Dell). With the cost of the bags and the compost - very expensive spuds - but the taste and satisfaction of having success in growing anything in our first year was priceless. Have got a few Rocket seed spuds sitting looking ok in the shed. Do you think it would be ok to put them in a bucket to try to get a winter crop, or is there a better variety (and not one that will cost a lot!)...

[chriscross1966]

I've got an experiment runnign this week of container growing for free.... the potatoes were given to me by a friend as excess to her needs at planting time, the containers are builders bulk bags and they're filled with a mix of soil and horse manure...the bags, soil and morse poo all from freecycle..... They're sat on a bit of my plot that is under weed mulch ATM with a variety of other things in similar bags and surrounded by squash and squash-like (cucmbers, gherkins, courgettes, a pumpkin)