[iwantanallotment]

I forget who it was now, but someone was interested in a comparison after harvesting.......

Well I've harvested most of my potatoes now - just Arran Pilot - some grown in the ground and others in florist's buckets & compost bags.

The absolute clear winner was the compost bag!
Loads of lovely, clean potatoes of good size and amazing quality, easily scraped in seconds. They boiled beautifully and were probably the best potatoes I've ever eaten. A fantastic yield for the 3 seed potatoes I put in, a bulging carrier bag full.

Second came the buckets - also clean and a good crop, but a tiny few did have a little scab and slugs had become interested.

Last of all were those in the ground. They were the biggest, but dirty and tasteless and lots more scab & unsightly bits - very noticeably so. They're relegated to "chippers". NICE chippers, not complaining - but for lovely boiled new potatoes I'm sticking to compost bags  

Got another left yet to tip out :cheers:  and will be growing all my potatoes that way in future  
Apart from anything else it leaves a LOT of ground free for other things, esp where space is a premium.
JMHO, reporting on my results - each to his own  

[Frog]

I have grown spuds both in containers and in the ground - I got loads from both ways of doing it. The advantage IMO of doing it tub style, you don't spear them with a fork when digging them up = less wasted spud!  

However, growing them down the lottie- I have been surprised how they have been really good for keeping the soil in good nick - less weeds, and much, much easier to dig afterwards!

We only managed to earth up half of our spuds this year (too much rain and not enough hours in the day!) - thought we were going to end up with a pants crop from the half that did't get earthed up. Not at all. A couple on the surface were green and pretty small, but otherwise, our harvest has been brill!  

[littlelisa]

IWAA - Thanks for the comparison! Great to know for those of us that have small plots.

Frog - I also didn't do much in the way of earthing up (a. didn't know what I was doing; b. was busy having a baby) and each seed potato has yielded between 12 and 30 potatoes. Mostly around fist-size. I have to admit, I didn't think they had a particularly yummy taste but I put that down to my own lack of discernment + the variety (Robinta - just what I could get my hands on at the time I got my plot).

Although the grow-bag idea sounds good, I've also been delighted with what the potatoes have done for the soil - nice and soft, well, manured and easy to dig, unlike the rest of my plot!! Gonna choose different varieties next year though!!

[Debz]

I don't have a big garden but would love to have more potatoes next year.  Can you please give some more info about growing in a compost bag.  What size of bag?  What kind of potato?  When did you start them?  How do you plant them?  How do you earth them up?  Do you have to earth them up at all?  I have lots of gravel areas that I could fill up with compost bags of potatoes.

Many thanks
Debz

[iwantanallotment]

Hi Debz,
I planted them on 25th May, just Arran Pilot seed potatoes from Poundland. Any seed potatoes would work the same.
I put about 6 inches of compost in a compost bag, put 3 potatoes in, and covered them with another 6" of compost. The bag was always rolled down to the level of the compost. As the foliage grew, I poured in more compost to bury it, until eventually the bag was full.
Oh, the bag was pierced lots too, for drainage.
They're the usual 75 litre compost bags.
I'm going to grow my winter/Christmas potatoes the same way, where they can be popped in the greenhouse before frosts arrive
I really would recommend it to all - the potatoes were fantastic, for very little effort and space.

[littlelisa]

What was the yield from each bag, btw?

[mrs bouquet]

All our spuds have been grown in containers of some sort, as I don't have a lottie and only a little garden.  The car tyres and good as well, easy to build up as needed and easy to take down again.  If you line the inside of the rim with paper.  It cuts down on the soil you need.  Mrs Bouquet

[siztenboots]

What would happen then if you progressively filled the bag with soil from the allotment, best of both worlds ?

How much soil do you need initially, some for any roots from the seed, then an inch or so ?

[andyh4]

However, growing them down the lottie- I have been surprised how they have been really good for keeping the soil in good nick - less weeds, and much, much easier to dig afterwards!

:

My take on why spuds are so good for improving the soil is that basicly you dig the ground over 3 times in a season* and put in muck and manure at the second digging - no wonder the ground is in good nick afterwards!

*Once to dig it over.  
Then to plant
and finally to crop.

[DD.]

However, growing them down the lottie- I have been surprised how they have been really good for keeping the soil in good nick - less weeds, and much, much easier to dig afterwards!

:

My take on why spuds are so good for improving the soil is that basicly you dig the ground over 3 times in a season* and put in muck and manure at the second digging - no wonder the ground is in good nick afterwards!

*Once to dig it over.  
Then to plant
and finally to crop.

I quite agree, - but don't forget the hilling up also!!!

[iwantanallotment]

What would happen then if you progressively filled the bag with soil from the allotment, best of both worlds ?

How much soil do you need initially, some for any roots from the seed, then an inch or so ?

You could do that, and it'd be cheaper. But the potatoes wouldn't be as clean and sweet tasting, and that was the decider for me.
After harvest, you wouldn't have believed they were the same potato. I have a photo of the 2 side by side, but it's on my phone & USB cable is 200 miles away

Two different kinds of finished potato, but each serving a purpose.
6" of soil max, in the bottom of the bag when you start, then pop on another 4 - 6" to cover & continue covering the growing foliage

[Goosegirl]

I've grown Epicure, Whichill and Mayan Gold in my raised beds this year, but also grown three Mayan Gold seed potatoes in a compost bag. The raised bed ones eventually got blight so I cut off the haulms to hopefully prevent the disease reaching the tubers (my fault for not spraying with copper fungicide as prevention - they looked all right one day - not the next). The compost bag was used to prevent slug attack so I will be interested in seeing if there is any difference in taste as well. If the bag is better for taste, then I will use them next year and shall be able to free up a whole raised bed. Am considering growing asparagus and would kill my granny for a tasty parsnip but didn't have the room this year so will have to reorganise my crop rotation system.