Potato Growing

Last year I read of someone in a gardening group who was growing potatoes in black plastic trash/garbage bags. I thought it was a neat idea to grow them up and instead of using a lot of space and doing a lot of digging. This year I'm reading of using 55 gallon barrels to do the same. So it was only natural for a light-bulb moment, right?

I'm going to try a few of the woven grain bags for growing my potatoes this year! I thought the grain bags would do a better job due to having better drainage. Not to mention, I just happen to have an abundance of them. I'll just place them where I want to expand another plot/bed. The biggest job will be getting the compost and potato sprouts in the bags. I'll just fold the tops down to make it easy and can unfold as needed. As the potato plants start to grow, the technique is to add more compost and a few more potato seeds. So it should be pretty darned easy to get started.

Then I can use the compost/dirt from the bags to expand that garden plot without a lot of work. I can cut the bags to retrieve my yummy potatoes and the dirt will spill right where I want it. Plus the bags sitting on the edge of that plot should kill off a lot of the grass making it even easier.

Have any of you tried container growing potatoes? I've done ground planting, trench with hay planting, etc in the past. I've run into problems with slugs or something chewing on my potatoes. So I think the woven bags might just be an improvement in the pest department too!