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| Old potato-growing containers |
Enquiring of the Twitter friend where they got their containers I found that they are available from a company called LBS Garden Warehouse. They are described as "Heavy Duty Container Pots" and come in a range of sizes from 30 litres to 1000 litres. I was pleasantly surprised by the prices too. The 30-litre ones are priced at £2.25. After comparing them with the best of my existing containers I decided to buy 8 of the 35-litre pots. Here they are:
As you can see, each one has two carrying-handles, and a number of drainage holes around the base. That will save me a few minutes with the electric drill!
These are just what I wanted. I think they will be ideal for growing potatoes in. They will give the potato plants plenty of room to spread out and develop. However, there's always a Down side: it will take a fair bit of compost to fill them!
Hopefully we'll soon be here...
They look great. Will you use more than one tuber in each container? I usually plant two or three in each of my containers but they're larger than what you've been using.
ReplyDeleteJo, I think I'll still plant just one tuber in each, because I really want them to have lots of room to spread out, which has not been possible in the little containers I have used up till now.
DeleteVery practical. I love them because of the handles. They will be easy to carry around.
ReplyDeleteThey look like they will do the job well. It always amazes me how people succeed with container growing. I'm just so bad at it. I forget to water often enough.
ReplyDeleteI like the look of them they look really sturdy and should be perfect for potatoes. I used florists buckets last year most successfully but only got a couple of meals out of each of them. Still, not to be sniffed at.
ReplyDeleteYes, I have had a lot of success with florists' buckets etc, but I know I can do better!
DeleteHi Mark,
ReplyDeleteI bought 20 of the 30L size of these a couple of years ago.Made of tough material with a bit of flex so I'd guess they won't weather and shatter as quickly as the rigid ones tend to.So far have only used them to park various fruit bushes before permanent planting out.So far the handles are great.
Before I got my allotment I used to grow my spuds at home in fabric containers and 20/25L pots with some success.Last year's main crop over on the plot were riddled with slugs so this year I'm only growing earlies in the soil with added seaweed foraged from the shore.Main crop Charlottes and Salad Blue (wonderspuds) will be in pots probably at home sitting on the gravel.I think that planting 2 or even 3 small tubers in this size pot will be fine with some granular type fertiliser added.
As a spinoff I'll get lots of compost to recycle into my soil hungry raised beds in the back garden.
Thanks for the info! My spuds were really good last year, I think because they were planted mainly in composted stable manure which retains moisture very well. I always add a handful of Growmore per pot, and some pelleted chicken manure.
DeleteVery nice - I could definitely use one or two of those, especially for my mint.
ReplyDeleteThese buckets are great and last for years and years, and are easily portable with the handles, We used them in my last job for trees and spare or old ones were used as weeding buckets which were perfect. Great idea for tatties :)
ReplyDeleteThose pots look nice. Key feature is the large drain holes. I tried the typical American 5-gallon bucket with drilled holes, but holes were not large enough. One good rain and the bucket flooded and rotted the potatoes before I noticed. Also popular here are the fabric grow bags. Theoretically they drain better.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a good find!
ReplyDelete