Does anyone out there know a great website or book describing how to do a potato barrel? I'd rather not use tires, I am thinking about wheeled trash cans, actually.
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Portland
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Re: Potato Barrel
Fri, April 25, 2008 - 5:33 PMI do this using half-barrel planters. Start the potatoes from cuttings in dirt in the bottom third of the barrel. As the plants grow, keep adding dirt an inch or two at a time until it's either harvest time or the barrel is near-full.
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Re: Potato Barrel
Sun, April 27, 2008 - 2:40 PMI read somewhere years ago ( maybe in "Mother Earth" Mag. ) about planting in a 55 gal. drum . A layer of dirt in which potatoes had been planted , then as the vine grew straw was placed around it , This repeated all the way to the top . Harvest consisted of dumping the spuds on the ground .
Two things .... potatoes must be kept from sunlight , ands there must be drainage. -
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Re: Potato Barrel
Sun, April 27, 2008 - 2:44 PMSRY... I reread my post and realized that it sounded as if the soil and straw were repeated all the way to the top.... no ! Once the potatoes start to grow one only uses straw . in layer after layer to the top . -
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Re: Potato Barrel
Sun, April 27, 2008 - 3:08 PMI haven't tried the straw thing with potatoes, but I have grown carrots and parsnip by making a wooden frame to sit on top of a straw bale and filling it with dirt, then letting the carrots grow down through the bale. At the end of the season, you compost the straw. It's good when you have heavy clay soil that would stunt your carrots.
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