[sophiejo]

I have always grown potatoes in compost bags due to lack of space. A move has meant that i now have a veg patch! consisting of deep beds, space is still limited.
 But i am confused, how should i grow my first early potatoes? I have read that they do not need earthing up and that they do! That you can plant them under black plastic and in pots. Am thinking of trying the black weed fabric in place of plastic, has anyone tried this? Also i have some spare black compost bins, can you grow them in these somehow? or maybe there is another way! How do you grow yours?

[richyrich7]

I grow mine the conventional way, earthed up, spacings 12-15" apart 2 foot between rows, if your using weed membrane then I'd cover with straw or similar just to make sure that no light gets through some of the cheap membranes let a tiny amount of light through.

[agapanthus]

I've grown my potatoes under black membrane for 3 years now and always had good crops. The only thing to bear in mind is to make sure that the potatoes get no light to them whatsoever....this can be done with cardboard but I preferred to use straw. This also helps to keep moisture in 'cos  over the last few years we've had some really warm springs. Hope this helps

[greenmiranda]

im growing mine in huge tubs. wish me luck!

[compostqueen]

they grow very well in tubs. You can't fail  

I do black sheet mulch spuds too but last year the shrews nested under it and ate me spuddies. Not the Desirees though cos they're rock hard but they ate all the Kerrs Pink. So I can leave the sheet mulch off as we're overrun with mice too at the moment. It works if you cover em with poo if you have some (cow or hoss)    As long as the light is excluded they'll be fine

Pooh does make em a bit scabby but not a problem unless you want to put them on the showbench

[sophiejo]

Thanks for the tips.
I think i'll go with the black membrane and straw. When i run out of space will stick some in pots as well, i have gone a bit potato mad, there are spuds chitting everywhere!

[compostqueen]

  Spuds do very well in pots and come out clean if in growbag compost     I did a mixed tub last year using someone else's cast offs, as he only wanted to plant even numbers of spuds  :?  :?

Oh well his lossy my gain. Lovely free pristine spuds I got  

[Rampant_Weasel]

i do mine a foot apart and the rows a foot apart, earth up straight away and then 2 more times when shoots appear.get a good crop, last year they were under 3 foot of water for a few days, there were a couple of rotten ones but the rest were okay.they seem to resist anything apart from frost.