This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Potatoes in barrels

Dot said:

Hello, I've started some potatoes in a half oak barrel after I emtied about
2/3 of the soil.  I plan to add soil as they grow.  My only problem is that
it's not very attractive.  I'm not sure how quick potatoes grow, would I be
able to plant some radishes or ? in the barrel while I'm waiting for the
potatoes to sprout? Any suggestions?  Thanks, Dot

Dot Geib
Pitt Meadows BC Canada
USDA Zone 7/8

My reply:

Dot, I'm growing potatoes for the first time this year, so I'm no expert, but I
wanted to tell you of my experience.  I'm trying the "vertical method" too. I
made a cage of plastic-covered wire fencing--it's 3 ft tall and I've bent it
into a circle with about a 3 ft diameter (same size I use for compost piles).
I put about 2-3 inches of soil/compost down, then the seed potatoes, then
covered them with another 4-5 inches of loose soil, compost and shredded
leaves.  Nothing happened for over 3 weeks.  Since I've had potatoes sprout in
my pantry after about 2 weeks, I couldn't figure this out!   I thought all of
the seed potatoes had rotted.  I almost gave up but I dug around in there and
found some sprouts, so I left them alone.  About 2 weeks later, they all
sprouted with a vengeance...I know have a cage full of potato plants!  They're
growing so fast that I don't have enough prepared soil/compost/leaf mix and
will probably have to buy bagged stuff to keep up with them....

So, my advice is, you might get away with radishes or something that grows
extremely fast like that, but your potatoes will come on strong in a few weeks
and crowd everything out!  Plus, when they start, you can't cover your radishes
or lettuce with soil as you plan to do with your potato leaves..

HTH,
Jane Patterson
Baton Rouge, LA 8b



*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Jane Patterson
State of Louisiana              Voice: (504) 342-4861
OTM / LaNet NOC                 FAX:   (504) 342-4867
P.O. Box 94280                  Email:  jpatter@la.net
Baton Rouge, LA  70804-9280

***************************************************************************
To unsubscribe, send to: listserv@umslvma.umsl.edu
the body message: unsubscribe sqft
See http://www.umsl.edu/~silvest/garden/sqft.html for archive, FAQ and more.
Follow-Ups:
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index