Potato Grow Bag Experiment - Part 1

First, my apologies because this post will have a LOT of pictures!

My daughter expressed an interest in growing potatoes in 5 gallon pails.  I'd heard of growing potatoes in tires, paper bags and plastic garbage bags but pails didn't sound like an answer to me so I did a little online research.  I came across a site that described making potato grow bags from landscape cloth.  And I just happen to have rolls of landscape cloth, so I decided to give it a try.  The remains of one roll gave me enough material to make 8 bags.  4 I kept and the other 4 I'll give to my daughter and daughter-in-law.  It's pretty easy!

My landscape cloth came in rolls 36" wide.  I cut 48" lengths and sliced them in half down the length yielding 2 strips 18" x 48".  Next up comes the sewing machine, but it's so simple a rank beginner can do it.  Just be sure to use polyester thread so that the stitching won't rot.

First, stitch the ends together in a half-inch seam with the shiny side of the fabric inside.  The pictures are taken from the back of the sewing machine so you can see the result and I used yellow thread on the last bag so the stitching would show in the picture.  It helps to go back over your stitching at the beginning and ends of a line so that the stitching doesn't unravel.

Next, fold the seam to one side and stitch it down.  This reinforces the seam.

Finally, on the bottom of the bag, fold the bag in half and make two 3" darts on each bottom corner, then fold the other way and make two more 3" darts - you will now have a dart at each corner.  This allows your bag to "sit".

Your finished bag will have an open square in the bottom.  Okay - bag done - time to set it up in the garden!

The spot I chose is below a small step, not in the way of any cedar roots and receives lots of sunshine.  It was on a slope, so I had to cut away the top of the slope, leaving the sod just below the cut portion to level it out.  Next I placed cardboard to keep the weeds and grass down.  I'll later cover it with some kind of mulch so it looks a little better.  Thick layers of newspaper would work just as well, but we'd just taken our newspaper pile to the recycling depot.

The bags were set in place, each anchored with a small rock to keep the breeze from blowing them away and holes cut in the cardboard to match the holes in the bottom of the bags.  I folded over the tops for now.

Each bag received 2 shovels of compost.

Finally each bag got 2 shovels of garden soil.  I moved the soil around so that the bags were steady.  The tops are still folded over so there's room for more soil.  Now I need potatoes!

To be continued!