Planting spuds
 

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 have no garden to speak of - at least for veg.

Bill

Planting spuds
 

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.

Planting spuds
 

On 08/01/2012 11:04, wrote:
Bill 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 did this a couple of years ago (March?) using the standard B&Q black
builders' buckets, general purpose compost, and supermarket King
Edwards. Started by just covering the spud, then buried all but the tips
of the leaves as they grew. Ended up with a 4 foot spread of foliage.
When it started to die off I dug the whole lot up. Best spuds I've ever
tasted, and plenty of them.

Planting spuds
 

"stuart noble" wrote in message
...
On 08/01/2012 11:04, wrote:
Bill 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 did this a couple of years ago (March?) using the standard B&Q black
builders' buckets, general purpose compost, and supermarket King Edwards.
Started by just covering the spud, then buried all but the tips of the
leaves as they grew. Ended up with a 4 foot spread of foliage. When it
started to die off I dug the whole lot up. Best spuds I've ever tasted,
and plenty of them.

Seems a great idea. Couple of questions. Did you drill holes in the bottom?
How did you judge watering?

Mike


--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

Planting spuds
 

In article , stuart noble
writes
I did this a couple of years ago (March?) using the standard B&Q black
builders' buckets, general purpose compost, and supermarket King
Edwards. Started by just covering the spud, then buried all but the
tips of the leaves as they grew. Ended up with a 4 foot spread of
foliage. When it started to die off I dug the whole lot up. Best spuds
I've ever tasted, and plenty of them.


I did the dame. Got a mammoth amount of top growth but very few tubers!
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Planting spuds
 

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

Planting spuds
 

On 08/01/2012 11:38, 'Mike' wrote:
"stuart noble" wrote in message
...
On 08/01/2012 11:04, wrote:
Bill 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 did this a couple of years ago (March?) using the standard B&Q black
builders' buckets, general purpose compost, and supermarket King
Edwards. Started by just covering the spud, then buried all but the
tips of the leaves as they grew. Ended up with a 4 foot spread of
foliage. When it started to die off I dug the whole lot up. Best spuds
I've ever tasted, and plenty of them.

Seems a great idea. Couple of questions. Did you drill holes in the
bottom? How did you judge watering?

Mike


Yes, a series of 10mm holes. My watering strategy was total soaking on
the assumption that the excess would drain. I don't use crocks but I do
crumble the compost by hand before use (and sometimes even pre-soak it).
After harvest it had been reduced to a fine powder, but hadn't compacted.

Planting spuds
 

"stuart noble" wrote in message
...
On 08/01/2012 11:38, 'Mike' wrote:
"stuart noble" wrote in message
...
On 08/01/2012 11:04, wrote:
Bill 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 did this a couple of years ago (March?) using the standard B&Q black
builders' buckets, general purpose compost, and supermarket King
Edwards. Started by just covering the spud, then buried all but the
tips of the leaves as they grew. Ended up with a 4 foot spread of
foliage. When it started to die off I dug the whole lot up. Best spuds
I've ever tasted, and plenty of them.

Seems a great idea. Couple of questions. Did you drill holes in the
bottom? How did you judge watering?

Mike


Yes, a series of 10mm holes. My watering strategy was total soaking on the
assumption that the excess would drain. I don't use crocks but I do
crumble the compost by hand before use (and sometimes even pre-soak it).
After harvest it had been reduced to a fine powder, but hadn't compacted.


Thanks for that. Something to try later. The garden is going to be neglected
for 4 months from tomorrow, but look out after that!

Mike

--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

Planting spuds
 

On Jan 8, 11:59*am, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-01-08 10:56:34 +0000, "Bill Grey" said:

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 have no garden to speak of - at least for veg.

Bill

In the past, Ray has put a couple of bags of compost on top of each
other and grown potatoes that way. *He may do some that way again this
year but I hope more will go out on the 'allotment', as we call it. *I
mention this only because it may save you space and the expense of
buying tubs.
--
Sachawww.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

Sacha,
Tell Ray that using pld compost bags, 120 litres or so on end,work
fine, just make sure there are holes in the base and lower level for
drainage then some compost then 3 spuds, earth up as required,
If they are in the way, easy to move, you can even start them inside
and move them out later in the season.
Quite a good use for recycled compost with a bit of feed added , or
liquid feed.

I would NEVER be tempted to add more potatoes.
Potatoes come from stems from the leaf nodes, so the more leaf nodes
that end up under the soil then the more potatoes you can have.
A good method if you have wet ground.
David @ the wet end of Swansea Bay

Planting spuds
 

stuart noble writes:

Bill wrote:
I'm sure I've read somewhere about people planting potatoes in large tubs.

I did this a couple of years ago (March?) using the standard B&Q black
builders' buckets, general purpose compost, and supermarket King
Edwards. Started by just covering the spud, then buried all but the
tips of the leaves as they grew.

I use old potting compost bags, just jab a few holes in the bottom
with a fork for drainage. The advantage of using a flexible container
is that you can roll the tops right down to start with so the new
foliage gets plenty of light, and raise them a bit to match the soil
level every time you earth up.

Anthony

Planting spuds
 

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2012-01-08 13:38:06 +0000, Dave Hill
said:

On Jan 8, 11:59 am, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-01-08 10:56:34 +0000, "Bill Grey"
said
:

I'm sure I've read somewhere about people planting potatoes in large tu
bs.
Ican do this, but is it right that potatoes are planted at different la
yers
within the tub. If so is it because of different types of potatoes o
r for a
staggered crop.

I have no garden to speak of - at least for veg.

Bill

In the past, Ray has put a couple of bags of compost on top of each
other and grown potatoes that way. He may do some that way again this
year but I hope more will go out on the 'allotment', as we call it. I
mention this only because it may save you space and the expense of
buying tubs.
--
Sachawww.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

Sacha,
Tell Ray that using pld compost bags, 120 litres or so on end,work
fine, just make sure there are holes in the base and lower level for
drainage then some compost then 3 spuds, earth up as required,
If they are in the way, easy to move, you can even start them inside
and move them out later in the season.
Quite a good use for recycled compost with a bit of feed added , or
liquid feed.

I will, David, though I think most of our 'left overs', if there is any,
goes on the garden. We don't use it as a regular thing in the garden,
though.

I would NEVER be tempted to add more potatoes.
Potatoes come from stems from the leaf nodes, so the more leaf nodes
that end up under the soil then the more potatoes you can have.
A good method if you have wet ground.
David @ the wet end of Swansea Bay


--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

Thanks to everyone for some excellent advice. I have a couple of builders
(not exactly buckets ) but big plastic things with handles. I'll certainly
give spuds a go this year.

In due course I'll post a progress report.

Ta

Bill

Planting spuds
 

"Bill Grey" wrote in message
...

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2012-01-08 13:38:06 +0000, Dave Hill
said:

On Jan 8, 11:59 am, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-01-08 10:56:34 +0000, "Bill Grey"
said
:

I'm sure I've read somewhere about people planting potatoes in large
tu
bs.
Ican do this, but is it right that potatoes are planted at different
la
yers
within the tub. If so is it because of different types of potatoes o
r for a
staggered crop.

I have no garden to speak of - at least for veg.

Bill

In the past, Ray has put a couple of bags of compost on top of each
other and grown potatoes that way. He may do some that way again this
year but I hope more will go out on the 'allotment', as we call it. I
mention this only because it may save you space and the expense of
buying tubs.
--
South Devon

Sacha,
Tell Ray that using pld compost bags, 120 litres or so on end,work
fine, just make sure there are holes in the base and lower level for
drainage then some compost then 3 spuds, earth up as required,
If they are in the way, easy to move, you can even start them inside
and move them out later in the season.
Quite a good use for recycled compost with a bit of feed added , or
liquid feed.

I will, David, though I think most of our 'left overs', if there is any,
goes on the garden. We don't use it as a regular thing in the garden,
though.

I would NEVER be tempted to add more potatoes.
Potatoes come from stems from the leaf nodes, so the more leaf nodes
that end up under the soil then the more potatoes you can have.
A good method if you have wet ground.
David @ the wet end of Swansea Bay


--
Sacha
South Devon

Thanks to everyone for some excellent advice. I have a couple of builders
(not exactly buckets ) but big plastic things with handles. I'll
certainly give spuds a go this year.

In due course I'll post a progress report.

Ta

Bill

Are you going to drill holes in them?

Mike


--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

Planting spuds
 

"'Mike'" wrote in message
...

"Bill Grey" wrote in message
...

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2012-01-08 13:38:06 +0000, Dave Hill
said:

On Jan 8, 11:59 am, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-01-08 10:56:34 +0000, "Bill Grey"
said
:

I'm sure I've read somewhere about people planting potatoes in large
tu
bs.
Ican do this, but is it right that potatoes are planted at different
la
yers
within the tub. If so is it because of different types of potatoes o
r for a
staggered crop.

I have no garden to speak of - at least for veg.

Bill

In the past, Ray has put a couple of bags of compost on top of each
other and grown potatoes that way. He may do some that way again this
year but I hope more will go out on the 'allotment', as we call it. I
mention this only because it may save you space and the expense of
buying tubs.
--
South Devon

Sacha,
Tell Ray that using pld compost bags, 120 litres or so on end,work
fine, just make sure there are holes in the base and lower level for
drainage then some compost then 3 spuds, earth up as required,
If they are in the way, easy to move, you can even start them inside
and move them out later in the season.
Quite a good use for recycled compost with a bit of feed added , or
liquid feed.

I will, David, though I think most of our 'left overs', if there is any,
goes on the garden. We don't use it as a regular thing in the garden,
though.

I would NEVER be tempted to add more potatoes.
Potatoes come from stems from the leaf nodes, so the more leaf nodes
that end up under the soil then the more potatoes you can have.
A good method if you have wet ground.
David @ the wet end of Swansea Bay


--
Sacha
South Devon

Thanks to everyone for some excellent advice. I have a couple of
builders (not exactly buckets ) but big plastic things with handles.
I'll certainly give spuds a go this year.

In due course I'll post a progress report.

Ta

Bill

Are you going to drill holes in them?

Mike

Yes, because when there are potatoes growing in them I shan't be able to use
them for anything else.

Oh yes - for drainage of course:-)

Bill

Planting spuds
 

On 08/01/2012 20:08, Bill Grey wrote:

Snipped for Sacha ;-)

A bit OT, but in days of old, when money was more than tight, my
Grandfather would dig a trench, put a layer of compost in then place
spud peelings in, covering them each day. He did not get a good crop,
but a satisfactory one though. Gardening on a budget in extremis I guess.
..

Yes, because when there are potatoes growing in them I shan't be able to use
them for anything else.

Oh yes - for drainage of course:-)

Bill




--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

Planting spuds
 

Sacha wrote:
Very considerate of you, Bill. ;-) Funnily enough, I was just
thinking that the other day when I was peeling some potatoes which had
started to chit. I wondered in a fleeting, passing thought, if I'd get
potatoes from them. Now I know I could, though I think we'll probably
stick with International Kidney.

I frequently get volunteer potatoes from peelings in the compost.