This year I tried potatoes in big plastic landscape waste bags. Folks all over the internets swear this method not only works, but produces tons of easy to harvest potatoes.

Mine were purchased from a reputable company, were chitted and set to dry for several days (maybe they dried too long, some of them were getting a bit moldy – this is notable since this year I did not dust them with copper fungicide).

Half the crop was planted in plastic bags, half were planted with traditional ditch and hilling method in the garden.

About 2" of soil mixed with compost was put in the bottom of each bag, the sides were rolled down and they were set in the sun. Multiple holes were cut in the bottom of the bags, drip irrigation hose was fed under the bags. As such they should not have suffered drought stress that affected other parts of the garden. As the spuds grew, bag sides were rolled up and straw was added. Potatoes were harvested when top growth died down mid-summer. It is entirely possible that these plants were affected by some sort of blight that killed them off early.

Photos below of the totally lame harvest. Most of the tubers don’t appear to have grown at all from seed size.

I am not counting these in my harvest count, but recording them as “dying” and archiving the plants. I did make a pot of soup with the tiny potatoes, one small consolation.

At least the onions are growing (last photo).