Potato Containers

The other day I saw a picture on Twitter of someone's potato containers and was immediately jealous. They seemed perfect for the job, and I was conscious that my own potato containers are a mix of old chicken manure tubs and cheap plastic florists' buckets, many of which are really too small for the intended purpose. OK, they were cheap (sometimes effectively free, as per the manure tubs), but they are mostly a bit "sub-optimal".

Old potato-growing containers

Enquiring of the Twitter friend where they got their containers I found that they are available from a company called LBS Garden Warehouse. They are described as "Heavy Duty Container Pots" and come in a range of sizes from 30 litres to 1000 litres. I was pleasantly surprised by the prices too. The 30-litre ones are priced at £2.25. After comparing them with the best of my existing containers I decided to buy 8 of the 35-litre pots. Here they are:

As you can see, each one has two carrying-handles, and a number of drainage holes around the base. That will save me a few minutes with the electric drill!

These are just what I wanted. I think they will be ideal for growing potatoes in. They will give the potato plants plenty of room to spread out and develop. However, there's always a Down side: it will take a fair bit of compost to fill them!
Hopefully we'll soon be here...