All four potatoes have about one inch of growth showing.

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I bought some red Desiree potatoes from the supermarket yesterday. I have put them on the windowsill to chit. When the barrel is half full I will plant four of them. I planted white potatoes at the bottom so I am using red potatoes next, when I harvest the barrel I will know which potatoes came from which part of the barrel.

2nd update 11th May.

Topped up my barrel for first time today. The barrel is now topped up to the first ring in the barrel ie, one third full. The Desiree potatoes I bought have not started chitting yet, so I bought some that have started chitting from the garden center today, just in case the first ones don't.

The chitted potatoes were planted in boxes to transplant when the barrel is half full.

I planted some tomato seed from a tomato I was eating today, I hope to transplant two of them to the barrel when it is full.

3rd update 17th May.

Four potatoes from one of the yellow boxes were planted in the barrel today. The barrel is now about half full. The potatoes from the supermarket never did chit properly. 

4th update 30th May. 

Supermarket potatoes finaly chitted, but to late to use.

Tomato seeds are now growing.

The four potatoes that were planted in the middle of the barrel are now growing well. had to add soil today.

4th update 30th May. 

                                  Photo taken today.

5th update 8th June.

Four more potatoes planted about one third from the top today.

6th update 11th June.

Two tomatoes planted in the top of the barrel today.

7th update 15th June.

The tomatoes are now in flower, the barrel is fully toped up.

Note from Ian.

Hilary is my partner, she is so fed up with me constantaly talking potatoes she has decided that, 'if you cant beat them, join them'!

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Peter.

Copy from Peter's e-mail.

Hi Ian, I went to the garden centre all enthusiastic to buy some potatoes to plant in a barrel. When I was there I saw a 'Potato Growing Kit, for £6.99, so bought it instead.

I planted them on Thursday 10th in the bags in the same order as I wrote the names above. I  will let you know how they all grow.

1st update. 24th April

The potatoes on the left, (Duke of York) are now  just through the top of the soil. No sign of the others yet.

2nd update. 27th April.

All nine potatoes are now poking through.  One of The Duke of York has now grown to 80mm high.

3rd update 29th April.

                             This photo was taken today.

4th update 4th May.

One of the potatoes from the first bag (DOY) is growing slow, so when I topped up the soil today I had to make a cardboard 'wall' to stop the small potato being buried.

5th update 10th May.

The two out side bags I am topping up leaving about three inches of growth showing, but the middle one I am adding enough soil every two days to just bury the leaves as they brake through. 

6th update 15th May.

All three bags are now fully toped up with soil. Lots of growth on outside bags but middle bag (Maris Peer) is still buried.

7th update 21st may.

All potatoes now showing.

8th update 27th may.

Potatoes were damaged in the wind so, I have had to stake up the remaining growth.

9th update. Sunday 22 June.

Photo taken today.

Note from Ian.

I went to my local garden center on Saturday 12th April to see if I could find the potato kit that Peter has planted and was plesantly suprised to find that there are several products available to grow potatoes other than in the ground.

The photo in the center is a potato growing barrel, the flap is to allow you to remove potatoes from the bottom before the ones at the top are fully grown.

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DAN.

Dan, has planted four potatoes in a barrel on Saturday 19th April.

Photo to follow.

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SCOTT.

Scott, planted some potatoes in the ground that were bought for eating but had started chitting. He is going to see how they compare with the seed potatoes he bought from the garden centre.

1st update 14th May.

Scott reports that the bought seed are growing much better than the 'eating' potatoes.

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JOHN.
John and his grand daughter have planted a barrel of potatoes they will give me more details soon.

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Melanie.

Extracts from Melanie's, e-mail.

I have planted up 3 barrels which I bought from B&Q. I have drilled approximately 8 holes in the base of each.

In barrel 1, I have added a specialist organic compost mix created especially for vegetables. I placed 4 Marks and Spencer Maris Piper baking potatoes in the barrel and then covered with another specialist compost. I watered with 2 litres of water initially and will keep an eye on them.

I live in Darwen in East Lancashire and we get quite a lot of rain here and a lot of slugs and snails. I have scattered slug pellets near to the base of the barrels and will keep a nightly slug watch to see whether I get any visitors. Whilst I doubt very much slugs will be a problem in Kololi, I am sure that there will be other pests! Also, we have a very heavy clay soil in this part of the country so I have gone for what I hope are specialist growing composts. As time goes on I will be adding fertilisers and will keep a log.

In barrel 2, I again added the specialist compost mix followed by 10 Sainsburys salad new potatoes followed by the vegetable compost mix. I then measured out 2 litres of water. This barrel has been placed on bricks to see whether this will aid drainage.

In barrel 3, I again added the specialist compost mix followed by 2 sweet potatoes and the vegetable compost. Again, they were watered with 2 litres of water.

                                                              

I have been given a further barrel – this time an old fashioned dustbin. I’m waiting for some more (M&S) potatoes to sprout and will hopefully be planting this up before the weekend. I will try it in a different spot at to see whether this makes any impact. We have a lot of trees here and have saved the rotting leaves for compost so I will add a layer in and see whether that helps. It is early days yet but I will report back as soon as there is a decent amount of growth. I think barrel 2 would be good for adding a further 2 or even 3 layers of new potatoes. I’m really hoping to be able to add further layers soon. Like Hilary I want to grow tomatoes at the top and have prepared some seedlings in readiness. I’m going to try spring onions too.

Loved the dvd, very funny!

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Penny and David.

Penny and David are growing three bags of potatoes that they bought as a complete growing kit from an advert in a daily paper. The instructions with them say that the harvest time is between ten and twelve weeks, about three weeks after the potatoes have flowered.

             Charlotte         Maris Peer       Belle De Fonteray

They planted the potatoes on Tuesday 6 May.

1st update 16th May.

We now have potatoes showing in all three bags but the Maris Peer are winning the race!

2nd update 2nd June.

This photo was taken today. In all three bags the potato growth has now reached the top. We have added more compost around the stems.

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