Grow Your Own Magazine

a little bit of fragrance clings to the hand that shovels muck as well PW

Most of the serious show groweres use barrels & the like for the very reason of damage & pest problems plus its hard to dig the beds for a 4foot long Parsnip

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Hi pigletwillie,
I have a couple of half barrels that used to have shrubs i and are currently empty. Can you tell me how many seed spuds to put in and what variety of carrot you grow in the barrell. Are they the long rooted ones or the stumpy ones.?

Hi Bramble,

the barrels are 25 litres in capacity and I put a couple of tubers in, if your barrels are wider you can plant more, they never quite run out of room. As for the carrots, I just boadcast over the top and eat thinnings as I go. I generally grow chanteray style carrots in my raised beds but the barrels are ideal for the longer rooted varieties of which to be honest I cannot taste the difference between (they all taste good). I will sow any that come to hand or I buy when out.

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Kindest regards, David.

http://pigletsplots.blogspot.com/
updated - Thursday 8th January at 2130hrs

Hi Pigletwillie,
Thanks for the advice, will try that. Regards, Gabrielle.

My potato pots have not turned up (apprarently I ordered something else by mistake ) Obviously yet another senior moment ...... anyway .......... I now have a few empty 80 litre compost bags - are these too big? for about 4/5 tubers?

Jennie, 80 litre compost bags would be ideal. Just turn the bags inside out and the black side will be on the outside so that they warm up and look a lot nicer too. Roll down the tops like a sock and plant up, then as the shoots grow just unroll the sides and fill with earth/compost.
Jax

I was so hoping someone would say that, so thanks Jaxom, as today I went out and bought another bag of seed tatties - charlotte - all I could get, so am going to give it a go.

I also like your idea Hils with the cheap grow bags, Somerfield are selling them for 99p, but they are so thin, I wasn't going to bother, but great idea for tattie bags!

Jennie
I'm sure a lot of your local farmers / crofters will have empty buckets that used to contain mineral supplements or sheep raddle (marker dye) - I am growing my tatties in these - they are about 21 litres capacity and would just end up in landfill sites.
However, ironically enough, the majority of my tattie buckets used to contain RAT POISON

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Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

Blog updated Wednesday November 13th

Rat I hope you gave them a real good scrub and then for peace of mind a second one! You are the one Rat we would like to keep round.
Jax

I think I over ordered on my seed potatoes as I have 80 (4 diff varieties). I was planning on planting in 10 litre bags (one tuber per bag) but I'm concerned about how much this will cost. These look like turning out to be the most expensive potatoes I will ever eat - that's if they grow!

Hi guys. First post on this forum and I'm a newbie to veg gardening. I've created some raised beds in my small garden but hoping to grow stuff on the patio too as I've got lots of tubers to go in. Do any of you know where I can get quite a few plastic buckets cheaply for growing spuds and stuff? I would like to buy in bulk online if possible but on eBay, they only have a deal for 2 or 350!

Thanks for your help.

try LBS they might sell "smaller" quantities, failing that try your local pound shop & keep you eye on florists as they sometimes sell the black ones if they are cracked. Another source of smaller buckets is bakers, they have jam in 2 gallon jobs, our local baker charges 50p & it goes straight into the Air Ambulance box so a worth cause - ming you it costs me about a tenner for all those lovely cream cakes

__________________
ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

They sound great, especially the bit about no damage. Eelworm always been a bit of a problem for me.

Emma, Try restaurants or pubs that serve food. They're sure to have the big blue mayonaise buckets that they usually throw out.
Don't forgrt to drill a few drainage holes in.

Thanks guys. Would these planter bags work do you think -

Woven planter bags

They come will drainage holes already in them too!

They probably would be okay, but personally I would just reuse an old compost bag and make a few holes with a fork, much cheaper and with the same results - tyres are good too.

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Best wishes
Andrewo
Harbinger of Rhubarb tales

Try NA Kays mel, they do ome poly pots that are about half that price and in various sizes. I agree with andrew and think Compost bags a OK, not sure about tyres though, there could be all sorts on them.

__________________
ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Thanks both. Planted some earlies in old compost bags at the weekend and will have a look at the poly pots at NA Kays.

I Planted mine out in compost bags yesterday - I bought two varieties, Pentland Javlin and Desiree, but stupidly forgot to label the egg boxes I left them in to chit, so not sure what I've planted out - whether they are all one variety or a mix - I put four in each compost bag and can't find the origianl bags from B&Q that have still got some tubers in, so I can't compare them to see which I was planting.

So it's going to be a lucky dips suprise when it comes to harvest time.

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Desiree has red skins and is a main crop and Pentland Javelin has brown skins and is an early.

so they are - I must have just put out Pentland Javlin to chit as they were all brown skinned...must find the original bags and put out some Desiree to chit so I can plant them later on in the year...thanks for clearing that up - at least I now know that I've got two batches of the same type of potato on the go.

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Eskymo, I use a permanent marker and writ the names of the potato on the seed potato I am chitting. Got the tip from the photo in GYO that went with the Allan Romans piece a few months ago. OK writing on the seed spuds was not mentioned but someone had done it for the photo.
Jax

I've gone for Cara again this year for my barrels, was tempted by desiree but the last crop I did with them I screwed up, don't ask, just watered at the wrong time...

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Best wishes
Andrewo
Harbinger of Rhubarb tales

I've got Rocket, Winston,Charlotte & Nadine under the staging at the moment plus a few potoatoes

__________________
ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/