Growing potatoes in a 55 gallon plastic drum
Potatoes grown the easy way
At the end of the season, all you have to do is tip the barrel over to get all your potatoes. It sure beats digging them up by hand. I did not have a good crop my first time around, I did get about 6 potatoes, but I was so mad I didn't take any pictures. I think this year, I will start them sooner, and place them in an area that receives more sun light.
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Great idea. I have a few drums laying around, and need to rest my garden beds from solanaceae species for a season. I'll try this.
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I'm very excited about this idea. I'm going to follow you. We're homesteading and haven't had luck growing potatoes and sweet potatoes last year due to deer problems.
For this year, we're planning on growing potatoes in a barrel as well but cutting the barrel bottom and when time to harvest lift the barrel up and "theoretically" bam! the soil collapses and go potato hunting :)
Growing in containers like this was one of the ways I grew when we lived in the city. We even did potatoes in 5 gallon buckets.
That's cool, I have seen people cut slots in them, and grow 40 heads of lettuce. Also vertical pallets works good in the urban environments.
I read somewhere that when planting like this it is better to replace soil with a material that is lighter such as hay. With the height the soil can compact down and makes it more difficult for the potatoes to form. The first layer can be just soil, then 50/50 soil/hay then hay only
Hey there @quochuy, nice to see a familiar face
Funny how I stumble upon an old comment of yours. And I don't mean to resurrect an old "thread" (terminology?) [Also don't know if that's looked down upon here] But this actually answers a question I had because when I used to try this method, my potato plant would always wilt from the bottom up. Maybe the soil is too heavy and the stem rotted. I'm going to try this method again with your tips. I'm excited! Do you think I can possibly use finely shredded cardboard as a substitute for hay? Haha
Why not. I use shredded cardboard sometimes to make my own potting mix or even as mulch. It's carbon after all.
Great idea with the drum! We did chicken wire last year and the animals and bugs got em. The drum would definitely keep the bigger critters out. Where did you get a food grade drum? Was it much $? Great post and idea! Thanks!
I often get them for free, but I can always find them for $10 on Craig list, or letgo.
Good to know! Thanks!
I like it...I've seen people grow potatoes in 5 gallon buckets, but I like the barrel idea much better. It gets so hot here in North Carolina during the summer, growing anything in buckets requires lots of watering because they dry out so fast. The larger amount of soil in the barrel would definitely help to alleviate that problem. Thanks for sharing!
for sure, you can just drill less drainage holes to prevent them from drying out.
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