Specialty Gardening: Growing Potatoes in tires - A Complete Disaster!, 1 by Weezingreens

Weezingreens wrote:
Hi, Kidneyguy. I think you may be right about the watering thing. Potatoes don't like to be soggy. It can cause rotting in the seed potatoes and it can definitely cause some scabbing. Good drainage is important. Rob has yet to dig all his potatoes, so we have yet to see how successful this method is. We have a short season here, so we seldom get a big crop... but they are soooooo good. He is growing 'Ididared' and 'Yukon Gold". My personal favorite is the Ididared variety. They are very hardy in our cool, wet climate, and they seem to sprout early.

Concerning the barrels, I think any large container would work... plastic barrels cut in half, those large plastic totes, etc. Make sure there are plenty of holes in the bottom for good drainage. If it is extremely wet where you are growing them, you might try some rocks in the bottom for additional drainage. I also set my 1/2 barrels up on 4x4 blocks to make it less inviting for the slugs. Slugs do love to munch on the potato greenery.

Here's a picture of our Ididareds that we harvested last year. They were so crisp and juicy that they snapped when I cut them up for breakfast...yum!