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GROWING POTATOES IN FLOWER BUCKETS
People have been growing spuds in containers for years and there are numerous different types and sizes of ‘potato planters’ on the market. In fact just about anything can be used as long as it is at least 12 inches deep and has drainage holes at the bottom. As an experiment I wanted to know if they would grow successfully in the black flower buckets which you can get cheaply or even free from supermarkets. The answer is yes you can and I was surprised at the yields although I wouldn’t want to grow a maincrop variety because of the limited space available. Additionally, it turned out to be the most economic use of garden space as the plants grow upwards instead of spreading out and can be spaced much more closely.
Here’s how I prepared the ground. First I drew out a trench with a draw hoe then half-filled it with well-rotted compost. Then I arranged the empty flower buckets with their bases cut out on top of the compost and back-filled the trench and around the buckets with the original soil. This anchors the buckets and stops them blowing away. A couple of inches of compost with a sprinkle of BFB in each bucket made a bed for each chitted seed potato which was then planted and covered with grow-bag compost. Subsequent ‘earthing-up’ was done with the same material. My reason for using this was that it is quite light and will allow plenty of room for the tubers to develop. Subsequent ‘earthing-up’ in the buckets was done with the same material. It may be possible to use ordinary soil but as mine is a rather heavy I didn’t want to impede the tuber development. Next year I will try using home-made compost to cut down the expense.
Feeding was done with my home-made seaweed concoction but any general purpose liquid would probably do.
The varieties I chose were Dunluce, Charlotte and Kestrel and yields averaged just over 2lbs or 1kg per bucket with one seed potato. There are several advantages that I can see for this method. To harvest them simply tip out the bucket and the potatoes come out very clean. They are less likely to suffer pest damage and you can actually get as good, if not better yield in a given area than using traditional spacing. This applies to earlies and would not be efficient for maincrop as they require much more room to expand.
I hope the pictures are self explanatory. The third one is the yield of charlotte from one tub.
People have been growing spuds in containers for years and there are numerous different types and sizes of ‘potato planters’ on the market. In fact just about anything can be used as long as it is at least 12 inches deep and has drainage holes at the bottom. As an experiment I wanted to know if they would grow successfully in the black flower buckets which you can get cheaply or even free from supermarkets. The answer is yes you can and I was surprised at the yields although I wouldn’t want to grow a maincrop variety because of the limited space available. Additionally, it turned out to be the most economic use of garden space as the plants grow upwards instead of spreading out and can be spaced much more closely.
Here’s how I prepared the ground. First I drew out a trench with a draw hoe then half-filled it with well-rotted compost. Then I arranged the empty flower buckets with their bases cut out on top of the compost and back-filled the trench and around the buckets with the original soil. This anchors the buckets and stops them blowing away. A couple of inches of compost with a sprinkle of BFB in each bucket made a bed for each chitted seed potato which was then planted and covered with grow-bag compost. Subsequent ‘earthing-up’ was done with the same material. My reason for using this was that it is quite light and will allow plenty of room for the tubers to develop. Subsequent ‘earthing-up’ in the buckets was done with the same material. It may be possible to use ordinary soil but as mine is a rather heavy I didn’t want to impede the tuber development. Next year I will try using home-made compost to cut down the expense.
Feeding was done with my home-made seaweed concoction but any general purpose liquid would probably do.
The varieties I chose were Dunluce, Charlotte and Kestrel and yields averaged just over 2lbs or 1kg per bucket with one seed potato. There are several advantages that I can see for this method. To harvest them simply tip out the bucket and the potatoes come out very clean. They are less likely to suffer pest damage and you can actually get as good, if not better yield in a given area than using traditional spacing. This applies to earlies and would not be efficient for maincrop as they require much more room to expand.
I hope the pictures are self explanatory. The third one is the yield of charlotte from one tub.
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