wrote in
:

Bill Grey wrote:
I'm sure I've read somewhere about people planting potatoes in large
tubs. Ican do this, but is it right that potatoes are planted at
different layers within the tub. If so is it because of different
types of potatoes or for a staggered crop.

I think it's more to utilise the space better! So each time you add
earth to cover up the plants as they come through, you just add a few
more. Of course, then you need to harvest them from the bottom up,
which may not be convenient. Or else wait till they're all ready
before emptying the whole thing.


I thought the idea was that in a tub/container/bag you put a bit of compost
in the bottom, planted the spuds, then as the foliage grows you add more
compost to cover the foliage. This covering of the foliage makes the
foliage turn to a root, and so on until the receptical is full and lots of
foliage emerges and over a period dies off. Then they are ready to harvest.

I have seen this work, but to get at the spuds at the bottom(the first ones
ready) you would need to get down to the bottom and disturb the rest of the
younger ones.

Going slightly off topic.

I have found that in my garden that the deeper I plant the spuds the longer
they take to appear, but many, many more spuds. So for extra early spuds I
plant them shallow, and for volume I plant them deep. The difference is
about 3 weeks.
For extra early sow a few that have been chitted, under some frost
protection 6" deep in mid Feb. and you should have new potatoes on the
table sometime in May, small, but to die for. The ones I have found to be
reliable are Arran Pilot.

So, the time between extra early spuds and deeply planted early spuds is
maybe only 4 weeks, but well worth the effort IMO.

Baz