Potato yields in grow bags (and other things)

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Potato yields in grow bags (and other things)

July 20, 2011 by outofmyshed

Didn’t have enough room in a client’s garden to grow potatoes this year, so we plumped for the growbag option. We used 3 Potato Gro-sacks (40 Litre / H 18in & W 12in ) from Marshalls, but any large pot or even heavy-duty bin liner would be fine to use. Wasn’t sure how high a yield we’d get, but tried ‘Foremost’ potatoes, a reliable early variety, and everyone’s happy with a yield of 3.5 kilos from each of 2 bags and 3 kilos from another. On reflection, a good solution if you lack the space, but still want the thrill of digging up your own potatoes. Anyone else grow potatoes in containers?

No veg here, as I wanted to grow Sunflowers in my front garden this year. They must be one of the most enjoyable annuals to grow. Two different varieties (both given to me, so sorry, I don’t know which varieties they are), which complement each other well, height-wise that is. Lots of admiring glances, although next year I’ll stick with the smaller of the two, as more in proportion with the garden and definitely affording more light to our living room!

And lastly, couldn’t resist snapping this amazing plant combination of Lavatera and Crocosmia as I passed by on the way back from Finsbury Park Tube. Rather a flamboyant effect. I love it!

Posted in Allotment, Annuals, Plant combinations, Potaotoes | Tagged annuals, Crocosmia, Foremost potatoes, grow bags, grow sacks, growbags, growing potatoes, Lavatera, Marshalls Growsacks, plant combinations, potato yields, potato yields in growbags, sunflowers | 8 Comments

8 Responses

on July 20, 2011 at 5:05 pm | Reply Rozelle Pope

Wow! lover the Crocosmia Lavateria combo – wild
- on July 22, 2011 at 6:49 pm | Reply outofmyshed
  
  Wild indeed.May try and plant this combination in a border for a vibrant -colour- loving client next year!
on July 20, 2011 at 5:47 pm | Reply Petra Hoyer Millar

That’s fantastic! We are growing quite a lot of potatoes, as my husband is great fan of anything spud! Though not in bags though. Do the plants become as tall as they do if you grow them in the ground? Ours are huge, and sadly flop over everything. My main problem, which I think the bags prevent, is spearing them with one’s fork when trying to dig them up. Our ground is almost solid clay, so difficult to ‘hand’ dig to get them out safely.
on July 21, 2011 at 7:54 am | Reply Jules

I’ve tried potatoes in bags before but my erratic watering regime has resulted in only small yields. My lot is too small to grow them in the ground without giving up some other lovely summer harvest. But my compromise this year is to plant potatoes in August so that we harvest in time for Christmas. The Uk weather should take care of the watering for me and then the bags can be moved into the greenhouse when it gets too cold. That’s the theory anyway…
on July 21, 2011 at 8:18 am | Reply Caro (Urban Veg Patch)

I do both! I grow in containers so that the potatoes are less likely to be spoiled when the children dig down for the spuds. (They get put off veg at the slightest excuse!) But I also grow in the walled borders at the side of the garden as I have a bit of spare space there and those also do well. I’m not usually a fan of lavatera (I see too much of it) but your photo is wonderful!
on July 21, 2011 at 9:38 am | Reply Andrew

Hi Naomi
I grew potatoes for the first time in bags and my first bag was VERY dissapointing with ony 2lbs of potatoes. Still have 4 more to empty. Read an RHS article that said “earthing up” container growing potatoes was a waste of time. My first container had all the potatoes at the bottom. I tried another the RHS way so watch my space!!

Andrew
on July 21, 2011 at 2:02 pm | Reply CoBoTech

we tried last year, but between the rather small grow bags we used, and a holiday where they dried out it wasn’t much of a success! will try again next year…
on July 25, 2011 at 5:32 pm | Reply outofmyshed

Dear Petra, Jules, Caro, Andrew and Colin, Seems like watering seems to be an issue here as bags will dry out quicker than when potatoes are in the soil. I think my bags were well watered most dry days. I didn’t earth mine up this year-just planted potatoes about a third down from the top of the bag. Also, I’m sure some varieties of potatoes will do better in bags than others-need to do a bit of research on this and will come back with some answers hopefully!! Petra, potato leaves flopped all over the place, but as long as there’re not snapped off, seemed to be fine. I have a few more mid- season bags to empty soon, so will be interesting to see how these have fared too. Cor blimey. On reflection(again)-seems a lot of effort for a few spuds. Maybe not again next year (although I seem to say this every year!) No, will be definitely saving my growing space for something a little more exotic ….blog to follow….V.best Naomi