Here is a photo of the few potatoes that developed at the top of the bin. It was said that late season varieties will produce potatoes along their stem and they did. With that said the tubers near the surface were rather small and there was not a whole lot of them.
Here is my final harvest, a messily 6lb 10oz. I think I may have used more food energy harvesting these potatoes then the potatoes produced! Will I bin again, definitely not. It takes an enormous amount of soil and work to fill. Then once you harvest the bin the soil can not be used for the bin again because of disease problems. My bin will not go to waste though, it will be recycled into a much needed composter. Up coming post will be an update on my blight problem and an update on my fall crops.
Hey I harvested my potatoes today too. I came to the same conclusion. Though I'm sure I dug up more calories than it took it wasn't all that many and almost all of them were in the ground not in the bin. Trenching would have been just as good and a lot easier. I'll probably post about it tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteMy mom's potato bin was the same way. Not too many potatoes.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about the blight, it seems to have been a problem in so many gardens this summer. At least you got some edible potatoes even if some are undersized. Got any favourite recipes? I love making gnocchi with them, and rosti, tis so yummy. I had to give up potatoes in this stupid no white diet thingo my doctor put me on to give me more energy, but I think I can sneak one or two every now and then, and sweet potatoes are not white :)
ReplyDeleteYuck. I really want to try potatoes, but it's a lot of space to waste if it doesn't work out. I think I've done that this year with the sweet potatoes. I don't think they're making tubers at all, or I couldn't find any when I dug down to check.
ReplyDeleteI, too, didn't get many potatoes from my little bin, and the tops did die back early from disease. We'll keep the big potato farmers in business this year.
ReplyDeleteLuckily my tubers weren’t infected. I’m sorry yours were. Today I found my first blighted tom !
ReplyDeleteGreat idea using the bin as a composter. I’m doing the same with mine. I’ll be collecting twice as much plant material this year because of the veggie garden so a second bin will come in handy.
Well you got some potatoes at least. Bummer on the blight.
ReplyDeleteI have found trenching is the most efficient and productive way to grow a good sized potato harvest. I occassionally grow some potatoes in a bin type container but usually only because I have extra seed potatoes that I am reluctant not to use but am out of bed space for. Sorry you had a dissappointing harvest from your potato bin.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you didn't get a better harvest, but I can't say I'm surprised. I haven't heard very many success stories with the bins (or towers). I might be old fashioned, but I got over 35 pounds of potatoes from a 3' x4' bed (12 sf), planting them the "regular" way. And mine were dug as new potatoes. They probably would have yielded double that weight if I had waited for them to mature.
ReplyDeleteBins do take a huge amount of soil or compost. I grow in trenches mainly. The older you get, the harder it is to plant lower than ground level but it's worth it!
ReplyDeleteThe whole "bin thing" just isn't worth the trouble, in my opinion. But hey....you have another compost bin for free!
ReplyDeleteI grew my potatoes in Smart Pots. I also got blight, but late enough that I got potatoes. While I agree that there is a fairly high work to harvest ratio, the potatoes I did get totally rock.
ReplyDeleteAlso, watching my kids digging and finding potatoes was worth everything.
Hi there. just thought I'd let you know that Westworld magazine has posted a list of urban gardening projects that city dwellers can get involved in
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ama.ab.ca/westworld/index.php?/articles/10_urban_garden_projects
Impressive harvest. My husband tried to grow potatoes in our backyard garden but only a few plants have grown and we haven't checked them yet.
ReplyDeleteAbout the bin...since the soil was in it, do you need to sanitize it before repurposing it?
I've tried the bins for a couple of years and I don't find them brilliant. It is hard to keep them watered enough for potatoes, the water just runs down the edge and out the bottom. Smaller containers are great for a very early crop in the greenhouse but I don't think I'll do potatoes in bins again either.
ReplyDeleteOh man, sorry about your potatoes...
ReplyDeleteMy potatoes were a bust too... I'm chocking it up to poor seed.