It’s planting time here at the cabin and the last thing I planted was potatoes and sweet potatoes in old feed bags. I save the bags that chicken feed come in and they make the best FREE planter for almost anything. When I run out of space in our main garden I use these as temporary plots.
Back in the day when I was first married and didn’t have a lot of money I planted my entire garden in IKEA bags and I have to say it was one of the best gardens I’ve ever had. Over the years I’ve also used the hard sided plastic kids swimming pools and they work great too. But why not use what I have readily available.
I had my son bring me up a bobcat bucket of top soil from our pile, it’s all the dirt that was dug from our pond, and dump it just into the weeds near my potato plot. I plant two seed potatoes per bag. First I add a layer of dirt, about 3” to the bottom of the bag, place the seed potatoes on opposite ends of the bag, and cover with a shovelful of dirt.
As the potato plant sprouts and starts its way up out of the soil I add another shovelful of dirt or straw and unroll the bag as I add more to cover the plant and I keep doing this until the plant dies back which indicates the potatoes are ready to harvest. It’s so easy to just dump the bag or cut down it’s length to expose the potatoes. I recommend using straw if you’re planning on reusing the bags from year to year. It’s much easier to lift a bag of straw than it is to lift and dump a bag of dirt.
Don’t forget to use a knife and cut drainage holes in the bottom of the bag a heavy rain can ruin the crop without drainage. I don’t keep my bags from year to year as I have a steady supply of new continually. If you don’t have feed bags you can also use the big bags they have at the checkout of TJMaxx, they sell for about $1 each and they work perfectly. I’ve also seen similar bags at JoAnn Fabrics and the nice thing about them is they have handles so it makes them easy to move into place and you also won’t have to roll the bag down.
They sell grow bags too on Amazon and other garden supply sites but these options work just as well and can either be fee or next to nothing if you use my suggestions. I bet if you live close to any kind of farm they’d save them for you too and when it comes planting time you can create a fun little garden. I’ve done everything you can think of in bags from tomatoes, beans, potatoes, zucchini, and more with great success and plentiful harvests. I’ve lined my bags on the back side of the chicken coop this year where they’re easy to mow around and out of sight.
That’s a great idea! I’ll have to try it. I live in the city so I don’t have a very big yard but a could do a few of these.
Diane you could create an entire garden with these, not just for potatoes.
Hi Dawn
Great info as usual. It looks shady where your bags are, how much sun do potatoes need? Thanks for all you do!
Mindy this was in the evening when I did the pic, so the area gets full sun in the morning and early afternoon and they seem to do well. I’ve never had trouble with sunlight and potatoes I think they thrive in most any conditions.
Darn clever and saving a land fill of more junk.
Exactly Debbie!