The Potting Shed - come on in, the kettle's on!

Primrose

boltongirl1 wrote: »

I would like to have a go at growing potatoes in pots what is the best way to go about it?

Sun or shade?
What size pot?
How many to plant?

The biggest size pot you can find, but certainly about 18 inches across and 18 - 24 inches high. Put no more than 3 or 4 chitted potatoes on a three inch layer of multi purpose compost and lightly cover with compost. (chitted potatoes are one where the little white sprouts are starting to shoot out of the potato "eyes". As the green shoots start to peek through the compost, top up with another layer of compost but don't put any more potatoes in.
I would leave it until end March/early April to start this off outdoors to avoid any frost, and put a handful of chicken manure pellets in the compost as you build it up as potatoes can be quite hungry feeders.

Keep in a sunny position and ensure the compost is kept moist. If we have really baking sunshine for a long period of time, the compost in your container could get quite hot and this could affect the roots and the growth rate.

I've tried for two years growing potatoes in containers and despite giving them a lot of care, have never reaped more than enough for much more than a single meal per container. You certainly don't get the hundreds of potatoes that these adverts for potato growing sacks depict in the newspapers. I wouldn't grow them in containers again - I think the roots get too limited which reduces the yield but by all means give it a try.

In terms of value for money, I suspect you would get much better value and a bigger crop by growing a tumbling variety of cherry tomatoes in a container. They won't grow anywhere near as tall as the potatoes where the greenery will probably start flopping over once it reaches two feet high, and tumbling tomatoes don't need to be staked or sideshooted as more flowers and fruit automatically grow on from the sideshoots.

boltongirl1

Primrose wrote: »

The biggest size pot you can find, but certainly about 18 inches across and 18 - 24 inches high. Put no more than 3 or 4 chitted potatoes on a three inch layer of multi purpose compost and lightly cover with compost. (chitted potatoes are one where the little white sprouts are starting to shoot out of the potato "eyes". As the green shoots start to peek through the compost, top up with another layer of compost but don't put any more potatoes in.
I would leave it until end March/early April to start this off outdoors to avoid any frost, and put a handful of chicken manure pellets in the compost as you build it up as potatoes can be quite hungry feeders.

Keep in a sunny position and ensure the compost is kept moist. If we have really baking sunshine for a long period of time, the compost in your container could get quite hot and this could affect the roots and the growth rate.

I've tried for two years growing potatoes in containers and despite giving them a lot of care, have never reaped more than enough for much more than a single meal per container. You certainly don't get the hundreds of potatoes that these adverts for potato growing sacks depict in the newspapers. I wouldn't grow them in containers again - I think the roots get too limited which reduces the yield but by all means give it a try.

In terms of value for money, I suspect you would get much better value and a bigger crop by growing a tumbling variety of cherry tomatoes in a container. They won't grow anywhere near as tall as the potatoes where the greenery will probably start flopping over once it reaches two feet high, and tumbling tomatoes don't need to be staked or sideshooted as more flowers and fruit automatically grow on from the sideshoots.

Thank You for the information I will give them a try.
I do have a small greenhouse which I am going to try and grow some tomatoes in again, I grew some last year but didn't get a lot from them even after looking on the internet for info. I put them in double grow bags so the roots had 2 bags to grow into with 6" plant pots with the bottom cut off pushed into the top and filled with compost which was to prevent overwatering.
Fingers crossed we have a better summer

Primrose

boltongirl1 wrote: »

I do have a small greenhouse which I am going to try and grow some tomatoes in again, I grew some last year but didn't get a lot from them even after looking on the internet for info. I put them in double grow bags so the roots had 2 bags to grow into with 6" plant pots with the bottom cut off pushed into the top and filled with compost which was to prevent overwatering.

What sort of tomatoes did you grow? The upright variety? I grow both upright and tumbling, and if you're using growbags you might find the tumbling cherry varieties give you a bigger crop. Also they seem to mature and ripen earlier than the other types which is a good thing as blight often strikes later in the season and can kill off the whole crop.

boltongirl1

They were cherry ones got the seeds from B&Q cant remember who's they were now.
Do you think the seeds actually determine the amount of crop eg. Aldi/Netto seeds versus a well known make?

Primrose

Different varieties have different cropping potential, e.g. Marmande which is a giant beefsteak tomato will produce very few tomatoes, but very big ones. Cherry tomatoes normally produce a large number of small tomatoes. But a packet of Aldi/Netto seeds won't produce any less or more than a well known brand like Suttons, Thompson & Morgan as they probably buy their seed supply from one of the big seed firms and just repackage them under their own brand names, very much as Sainsbury would probably have contract with Heinz or Crosse & Blackwell to supply baked beans which they sell under the Sainsbury name. It's the variety of tomato which counts, i.e. Moneymaker, (standard size) Gardeners Delight (large cherry size), Tumbling Red (or Tumbling Yellow - red or yellow cherry) which counts.

Dustykitten

Spent my hour doing the Big Birdwatch. Glad I hadn't tidied the borders as the birds were having a wonderful time rumaging around in the small fallen leaves and herbaceous debris. It made me even more sure that we want to dig a small wildlife pond in the spring and the food the birds get from the crab apple at this more barren time of year is wonderful (we have Malus Robusta Red Sentmel).

Hoping to do some work on the front hedge once DH is back from overseas.

This week I need to water some of the pots outside, check the pots/bulbs being forced in the side shed and cut the leaves off of the hellebores to try to limit black spot.

Wishing you all at least half a day of sunshine this week, Dusty x

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all, is it OK if I join you?

I know absolutely nothing about gardening. I really am clueless, I know the green bit in the middle is grass but thats about it! We have a big garden and its a disaster, OH is an expert but with 2 kids and busy lives we have just never had the time to do much.

Over the past 2 years our lives have changed dramatically. My son has an illness which means he cant go to school and I have given up work to care for him. I desperately need a hobby and it would do my son good to get involved (although he's not too keen at the moment)!

Everyone tells me you dont need huge amounts of money to transform a garden but I am a bit sceptical about this. We have a greenhouse and coldframe and although we dont have much cash I do have lots of spare time.

So, have got some books from the library and with help from my OH I am going to start making plans. I would love to grow some veg eventually but for now will concentrate on making the big scruffy patch of land we own look like a garden.

Wish me luck! Oh and all advice welcome ..

Primrose

Yorkshirelass - am sure you'll find some help and ideas on here. If you'd like to grow some veg eventually, it might be a good idea to start getting some experience by growing a few items in big pots or growbags, before digging a vegetable patch. Tumbling cherry tomatoes are easy to grow from seed and need little attention as they don't need to be sideshooted or staked, and your son would probably enjoy seeing them develop and ripen. Chillis and peppers can also be easily grown from seed and grown in big pots and they're colourful and interesting to watch develop. And small patches of mixed lettuce can be grown from seed in a small part of one of your borders without too much effort.

Probably one of the best things to do is clear your flower beds of unwanted plants, give the soil a good digging, and straighten the edges of your lawn. That will immediately start to make your garden look tidy. There's no reason why you can't grow flowers and vegetables mixed up together - I do this and it can look quite interesting, with geraniums next to patches of carrots or beetroot where the vegetable leaves are feathery or colourful. Don't worry about breaking conventional rules. Whatever works for you is what will give you pleasure in your gardening, and I'm sure that once you start to see results it will become an addictive hobby. Also, your son might like a small patch somewhere to grow his own flowers or veg, but make sure it's in a sunny patch where plants will grow and thrive, otherwise he could quickly lose interest.

MrsRogers

**** pops her head around the door and gives everyone a wave :wave:***

Hello all... I am a bit of an amateur gardener and finally acquired my own proper garden summer last year when we moved in to our 1st own home. There is nothing I love more then pottering around in my garden :T
The person who lived here before must have loved their garden but it is all shrubs, shrubs and more shrubs!! So I have some work to do to get its how I want.

So far we have built a veg patch (2 raised beds) and a Fruit patch
I have a proper greenhouse :T:T Which I am very excited about. Spent some of this afternoon pulling a horrible plant up from my front garden so work to do there too.... all very exciting but a little overwhelming

I shall be around to ask lots of advice if I may

YORKSHIRELASS

Thanks Primrose, thats really helpful. I just feel a bit daunted by it all but OH keeps telling me that everyone has to start somewhere and its a question of getting out there and having a go. I love your idea about some veg in pots and mixing veg in with the flowers.

One of the problems is that there is just so much to tackle so we have decided to extend the lawn and get rid of one area thats currently a big flowerbed. Its damp and shady and nothing has ever done very well in there so as a result its probably the worst looking bit of the garden. We can reuse the few shrubs that are worth saving in other parts of the garden. We have also got a big overgrown rockery and I love alpine plants so I would like to keep that.

See, a plan is starting to take shape already! My son and I are going to have a go at growing potatoes in buckets, we can make this into a science project for him and can start now by chitting the potatoes.