Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I tried growing potatoes in bags this winter. Two of the bags still have green shoots in them, but the third bag, with no live potato plants was harvested. This is the result:



I also grew potatoes in a raised garden bed which had previously contained strawberries. I put the seed potatoes at the old ground height (very low) and added compost through the winter. This is the bed after I've dug through it:



Finally, the harvest:



How small can the seed potatoes for next year be? Some of my harvest are the size of marbles!

I dug up all my sweet potatoes the other day and got bunches of them. My area of compost that I started with was covered with spuds and the main root system of the plans decided to go down about one shovel deep and make a huge ball of spuds that got pretty large. So actually from the 6 plants I started a got a large wheelbarrow full of spuds so I got a large return. My 6 plants came from two medium sized spuds. They were in full sun all day long, no shade time at all. But since they grew down in the dirt and did not stay in the mulch area for the most part I have to say mine were not just grown in the mulch pile as I had tried to do. I am making a larger pile of mulch this year to work with next time.

I am planning to do a real remeadiation on some of my garden area by using an internet info method. First to cover the ground with about 6 to 10 layers of newspaper and soak it down wiht the water hose. Second cover with about 6 inches of hay or straw. Third cover with about 3 inches of mulch and soak down again. Fourth cover with another layer of straw about 3 inches thick. Let dry out a bit and plant seeds in the top of the mulch. Water every day with a sprayer till it is established. The idea is to make up some good soil on top of a bad spot and by the time the straw and mulch decays it will improve the soil in that area a lot. I am going to try that as my gardn doe not have much nuits. It was almost pure rock dust not dirt when I started.

By the way the seeds started in the AP just came up and rotted so I guess it was too wet for them.

I know how u feel. My house is on land that used to be a brick pit. The soil is solid clay.

Oh, and great work on sweet Potatoe. I just put mine in a new bed I made. Lets see how I go.

Didn't happen to get any pics did u?

yes but system would not let me post any. Now it sesems it would but am not at home today.

I've just harvested another two "bags" of potatoes - a total of 1.5 kg of potatoes in them. Apparently the potatoes should be harvested while the plant is alive - the plants in the metal bed had all died off, and the slaters were starting to eat them (I assumed it was slaters, there were a lot of them around).

The bag idea is good if you are lacking growing space, or have a problem with shaded garden beds in winter, but I think I'll replant potatoes in the metal growbed next autumn - and harvest them as soon as the plants are dying back, instead of waiting (as I did this year).

Earlier on in this thread I had posted up of my potato progress under our mandarin tree out the back. Well long story short we harvested those in July and quite happy with our first attempt. What is very cool though is they have all come back again!! I guess I missed a heap because the garden is now full of spud plants again. Double whammy!!

You appear to have lots of mulch in those beds, did your plants bury the spuds in the hard dirt beneath them or stay in the mulch as they grew?

My sweet potatoes buried mostly in the hard dirt below the mulch.

Yea dirt below Don

Another argument for not hilling up with anything but soil.

They'll do that, lay dormant in the soil till next season. Happened to me a couple of times too.

Here is the pics promised if they will work. Ahh It worked this time. These spuds really taste good too.
There not AP at all but I like them.

I am about to try another thing to amend the soil in my garden. I heard of a method that might work here. It goes like this.
First level out the ground to use. Then cover with 6 to 10 pages of newspaper, not the shiny type the newsprint.
Then wet it down good and wet. This is to kill the weeds and the stuff under neath.
Next put on about 6" of hay or straw.
Next put on about 2" of mulch.
Next another 4" of straw.
last put on another 2 to 4" of mulch and plant seeds and water well.
Keep damp but not real wet.

This was a method found by my wife and I am going to try it. All this stuff should break down and make the soil better. In the meantime you get to grow another crop of stuff. I am going to try winter vegies and hope they don't freeze to death. after all it is going to be a winter crop.

Wow thats a lot of spuds don, nice work.

My inlaws make there garden beds similar to how you have described and it works very well.

Wow indeed.

Don + Charlie. I've seen it done on gardening Australia as a quick way to create a veggie patch over existing lawn, except the layering was different.

How was your layering done?