Potatoes in pots

[Flummery]

Leave them be, noidea, and make sure they get plenty of water. You could be in for a bounty!

[Growingchef]

I am growing mine in 16L buckets that come from the kitchen that i work at so try a large hotel or fish and chip shop for old containers for free.

[todayiwillbemostlygrowing]

I bought the expensive £20 kit from Dobbies or Suttons a few years ago where you get the 3 buckets and 3 different varieties of spuds. It worked very well the first year, I got more new potatoes than the king edward ones.

This year i'm re-using the buckets and bought a huge pot from Instore £3 and i'm using an old terracota pot in the garden which makes 5 pots.

I put compost in the bottom of the pot about a quarter of the way up, put in 4 tubers and covered with compost, watered it. Then earth it up when the stems appear above the soil.

I'm growing Desiree and Nicola varieties and bought a big netted spud pack from the local garden centre, I ended up giving the rest away to friends and work colleagues trying to encourage them to give it ago!

[moggssue]

So, when you say 'early' varieties am I right that you dont mean early sowing necessarily? I have been given the remains of a colleagues Rocket tubers he didnt use, many very soft but a couple that might work so fingers crossed. he said try a plastic bin sack - but how would you make holes in the bottom for drainage?! In a pot I presume you just drill a couple of holes around the base?

[junie]

I bought 3 potatoe tubs and tubers from tv shopping channel. They all grow at different rates and I just fling compost on top of them all. Is this OK?

[Paulottie]

Hello Junie, welcome to the vine. sounds ok to me- just leave a few inces of the leaves exposed.

Old compost sacks would work i guess...bin bags too thin...Then use hole punch?..or...Knife!

For main crop varieties I saw Bob Flowerdew do them in tyres once. He filled up rims with straw to save on compost and just kept stacking and filling them up over the season. ended up 5 or 6 high and just stuffed with spuds. not the most attractive option but great by the compost heap or something.

we helped do a couple of stacks for the kids veg garden at school last year (couldn't do main crops because of timing -but they got a good yield and loved it)

[Cutecumber]

moggsue - "early" varieties tend to produce smaller potatoes and less top growth, and the time to maturity is shorter so that's to your advantage. They don't store as well as maincrops, but are more suitable for container growing in general. Plant them whenever you like, but leave enough time for them to mature in early autumn - you can move them into shelter but they need plenty of light. It's more of a gamble the later you plant them.

I wouldn't use ordinary bin bags, they are far too thin. Try thick rubble sacks or compost bags. Make holes in the bottom using anything you like! Just make sure you don't weaken the base of the bag too much. Solid containers will need drilling. The bag must be strong and not let light through or it wont support the top vegetation and the potatoes will go green.

junie - make sure the tubs have holes in the base. Ideally, put something in the bottom (broken bits of terracotta pots, bits of polystyrene etc) to keep the holes open and provide enough drainage. Put in three or four inches of compost. Carefully put two or three potatoes in - cover carefully with another three or four inches of compost. When the shoots come through, let them grow a few inches and top up with compost. Keep doing this until the container is full. Keep well watered and let the tops grow. About three months later, all being well, have a root around and make sure there are some reasonable sized potatoes. The "early" varieties should mature before the "second earlies" or "maincrop". Keep your fingers crossed, tip out, and enjoy!

[moggssue]

Thanks Cutecumber! What I meant about holes in plastic bags was that surely the bags would just rip if you holed them and then filled with heavy compost! I've used a couple of old catering margerine tubs, about 14" diameter, with moisture retaining compost (all I had available at the time and didnt want to leave the already old tubers any longer) with two tubers in each. I'll get some JI No 3 to earth up with though. Many many thanks, this is an excellent site, such friendly helpful people, given me lots of great ideas I hope I can put into practice.

[noidea]

We have our tatties in an inside out compost bag with holes made in the bottom with a pair of scissors. They are doing great so far and the bag hasn't shown any signs of falling apart. I like the idea of using the bags like that.. reduce, reuse and recycle etc... Also have done the same with our carrots in those big blue Ikea bags. They are coming on a treat.

C

[moggssue]

Compost bags are a better idea, much thicker! I'll give that a go next time, I agree with you re recycling and all that.

[Cutecumber]

they work well - you just keep rolling them upwards and adding more compost. I don't advise trying to move them when they're full, though, and make sure they are nice and stable.

[moggssue]

I will definitely be saving my compost bags from now on! Can you grow carrots and parsnips in them as well do you think? (Sorry, going off the subject of the thread).

[Cutecumber]

You can grow anything you like, I am sure. I think I'd roll the bag down to about half the height for most crops - no need to bother cutting it. That should give enough depth and extra strength. Plenty of drainage material at the bottom and not too rich a compost for root vegetables.

[moggssue]

I'll start saving all the stone I keep taking out of the veg plot then, ready for my empty compost bags next year! What compost would be good for roots then, aren't they all quite rich? talk about planning ahead ... !

[Cutecumber]

Do you have any garden compost? I use some of this and top it off with bought compost to stop the weeds growing up. This year we had some soil from a small turf stack so I added a bit of that.

Just avoid manure and extra feeding, that's not a good idea.