tried last year alongside growing in ground... will not repeat as results were extremely poor as compared with those grown in open ground.

Quite a few of the GOYers said they had less success with potatoes grown in sacks and pots...I wanted to try some myself for the first time this year and purchased some seed potatoes, which are laid out for chitting at the moment...now i dont know what to do for best as i really dont have ground space....:>)

I grow them in pots and I get plenty. I have no room in the ground so there is no alternative. Anyway I get enough. I don't want to be inundated with them.

my daughter always grows them in pots and although the yield might be smaller we do have enough for some special meals. if your garden is small its really a choice between whether you want flowers or food although a very small garden will never produce enough for a family. we grow some of the more unusual or heritage potatoes for the novelty and it also ensures that these types dont disappear

any veg in pots /bags have got to be for the novelty, because you either have no garden or you prefer to lay it out as a flower garden, as for being inundated you would need a field to grow enough potatoes for the avrage family,MG you are right ,how can they spred roots and develop a decent crop in a restrictive bag or pot and how do you earth them up.a few very earlies or christmas day in the greenhouse, but spuds in the open ground.for a decent crop, good lucK with your veg crops MG.

Growing in bags CAN be succesful as long as you remember that potato plants need huge amounts of water,
As for earthing up, well that is easy. You put the seed potatoes in the botttom of the bag/pot/container and as they grow you add more compost until you reach the top.
We must not be 'typical' as we grow enough potatoes for the two of us for the year from 10 early seeds and 10 second earlies. We do not grow main crop so avoiding the blight.

I get enough from my pots for a few meals and that's enough for me. If I had any more and I would feel inundated with them.

We want to grow enough potatoes to feed us for several months so as Cliffo says pots are no use. I realise if you have a small garden it is a challenge to grow veg and flowers we are lucky in that we can do both with no problems.

Hywel do you not end up having to buy potatoes?

I buy them. As long as I have a few from the garden I am satisfied. I enjoy the few I grow but I could never be self-sufficient. I have not got the room or the interest.

I was brought up in the country in the earle thirtes at the back end of the depresion and we lived mostly on what we grew and what we shot or snaired and what we got out of the river not just fish but things what you proberly call sanfor and we called samkin,then there was the war and dig for victory, so we were never brought up to play at gardening as a hobby, we depended on the garden and what we knew of the countryside, and I think that if I rember right MG will understand my view as I belive she said once that she used to be a crofter,

Times have changed :o)

Yes I do understand if Cliffo and wish that new build houses had gardens big enough for folk to grow their own veg. and the interest and inclination to do so. As a child everyone I knew grew their own vegetables... it was simply expected of you and though most couldn't grow everything they needed they certainly grew as much as they could. Flowers were for the front garden and a border along one side of the path. Oh dear I better stop or I'll climb on my soap box and not get off for hours!

and I will give you a brake now and agine, and there are others on the site that could do the same XX

Your on Cliffo... bet Ian would join us too!

I only grow potatoes in sacks ,because not much room , and like the challenge of growing as its so nice to eat your own produce however small and whatever. As we are not big potato eaters [ although love jacket potatoes m m m ] the small amount are just right for us

I'd rather eat potatoes than pasta or rice. Pasta is a manufactured product so is high in energy use whilst rice is high in food miles and the working conditions are not good. I am not saying we don't eat pasta or rice but primarily we eat potatoes. For me it is all about eating what can be grown locally and in season.

I could join you MG and Cliffo and wax lyrical for hours about the benefits of home grown fruit and veg. There is nothing finer but, to answer Pammie's original question. It is possible to grow a very successful crop of potatoes in containers but the attention to detail is paramount. As has been said already, potatoes need enormous amounts of water to make a really good crop (particularly early on in their growth) so if you can spare the time to water up to twice a day and keep them free from blight and the other ills that can befall spuds you will have a great tasting, healthy crop of that will last for quite long enough.

I grow most of my veg in pots or bags as most of the sunny parts are either on the back path or in the unsecure front garden. I use the old large compost bags for spuds and as they grow i unroll the bag and earth up. we get several servings [for 4] from each bag.

Wow.....I'll be trying containers then for my first attempt......I wouldnt dream of giving up my flower beds to veg.....:>))