Growing my own potatoes

[cpac123]

This year I want to grow some potatoes with/for my 7 year old girl, she loves the process of getting her hands mucky...I only have a smallish garden so wanted to grow them in potato sacks, you know the things you can buy in the garden centres...
2 questions,
1, Can I use those durable sainsbury's shopping bags instead? Would they be deep enough? Purpose bought bags are a little bit pricey..
2, What sort of soil is good to grow them in, we have lovely (not) clay here in Sussex, perhaps I could mix it with something???

[billnorfolk]

Tubs buckets most anything will do ,put a few holes for drainage so as not to get waterlogged ,50x50 mix of soil and cheap compost will do.Blue or green rubble sacks can be used and are cheap to buy .Put a few inches of your soil mix in ,then 3or 4 spuds then a few more inches of soil ,top up as they grow,keep away from frost ,keep damp not wet .
Enjoy your potatoes.The deeper bag you plant in will give a few more than shallow bags.

[Freeranger]

I agree - I've used rubble sacks and this year will use chicken pellet sacks. I found though that you have to check often for water because I thought they were getting enough being out in the rain. The foliage was stopping it from getting to the soil, and the tatties were tiny.

[morbidia]

I haven't tried it myself but I have known people to use the shopping bags with good results

[billnorfolk]

I agree - I've used rubble sacks and this year will use chicken pellet sacks. I found though that you have to check often for water because I thought they were getting enough being out in the rain. The foliage was stopping it from getting to the soil, and the tatties were tiny.

A way to cure that is when you plant your spuds,or anything that needs water around the roots ,is a length of 1" plastic pipe buried at an angle as deep as the roots or spuds,this ensures water gets to the roots if you pour water down the pipe.Sometimes you may find the top 2or3 inches of soil wet but the roots can be dry. .

I use this for fruit trees as well ,once tree established after about 18 months or so pipe can be pulled out and hole filled with a little soil,idea can be used for getting a liquid feed to roots as well,use at half the recomended strength.

[Babycakes]

I have loads of coal sacks out the back - could I grow spuds in those?

[Freeranger]

I don't know what a modern coal sack looks like - plastic like a rubble sack or porous like hessian or woven plastic. If it's the rubble sack type then certainly you could, and I don't think the coal would cause contamination/taint problems as it's an organic product anyway and mostly carbon (I'm only guessing - check this for certain). You could still grow them in the other ones but would have to pay a bit more attention to the soil's moisture level - the pipe suggestion sounds excellent (thank you for that).

[lancashire lass]

as it's an organic product

from a chemist point of view, organic means something entirely different to a gardener's view of the same word. Coal is not charcoal (which IS mainly carbon) but has several other chemicals mixed in such as bitumen, petrified oils, sulphur (it depends on where it came from and the grade) As a precaution, if the bags were contaminated, it might be best if the bags were washed with a little washing up liquid and rinsed out rather than take the chance.

If the bags are woven plastic and feel strong, I see no reason why they can't be used - at least you won't have any drainage problems, but IF we have a dry summer, keeping the soil moist might be difficult. Maybe the bags could be stood upright and a plastic lining put inside the sides (a sort of flexible plastic pot effect)?

[Mo]

You could always turn the bags inside out, then no coal contamination unless you are worried about the dyes from any printing on the outside.

My guess is while anything you grow them in might not meet strict 'organic' standards*, most would be OK in practise.

It used to be an idea to grow them in old tyres, adding more to earth-up.


*well, the substance wouldn't have been tested to see what would leach out in contact with soil

[Freeranger]

What I meant in this context was that there are no added chemicals, so the compounds that are in the coal are also in the soil in varying quantity. Once a bag was filled with soil, the concentration would be low, though admittedly concentrated abut the edges. Whether they'd be taken up by the tatties in those forms or broken down more I don't know. Probably would be best to rinse them or turn inside out as suggested, just in case.

[Mo]

I suppose I was thinking about any container improvised from a synethtic or treated container. You don't know what it's made of, or if chemicals will leach, so there could be a quibble. But it's probably OK.

[vegalot]

Put a bin bag inside the coal sack, with a few small holes in the bottom of it.