Growing Potatoes In A Barrel.

Put some drainage in the bottom of the barrel like broken up pots,stones or even pieces of broken up polystyrene – this ensures good drainage when you water.

Next take some potting compost and sprinkle it on the bottom 15 cm or so deep.

Next take your potoato seed potatoes that have been chitted (have started to grow short sprouts) The reason for seed potatoes is that they as they do not have any diseases.Place approximately four on the compost and cover with 5 to 10 cm of soil and water.In an ideal world leave 15 cm space between each seed potato.

Some people drill a pipe with holes and place it in the middle of the planter so that you can water more easily.

Wait until the growth pokes and cover with compost leaving 10 to 15 cm of growing shoots uncovered above the soil surface.

If just using soil to cover them,you may want to add some peat or perlite to make the mix a bit lighter as soil by itself could end up being quite compact.

You may want to feed with Miracle Grow or Organic Potato fertilizer,if just using peat but if using a blended compost there should be enough food in the compost to see the pototoes through.

When you get to the top of the barrel you can harvest -this will probably be May June.Using this method you can have fresh home grown potatoes for 9 months of the year.

The First early seed potatoes can be planted in barrels from late March,but will need protection from hard frosts.Your greenhouse may be the ideal place to start them off.