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I’m not a big fan of container gardening. From the deep south, container gardening is for places where the sun won’t dry and burn the roots.
Grew up working on a tater farm. Sweet taters and Irish taters.
We’re in process of moving further north and my girl is excited to try container gardening again.
A plant takes in a certain amount of energy and turns part of that into fruit or root storage. You can’t really get anything for free.
I prefer heirloom seed or hardware start plants grown traditionally.
It’s been a long time since I’ve grown much of anything other than cacti, native ornamentals, and fungi. It’s a kind of work I swore off for a long time.
Just bought a play farm, will probably grow some tomatoes. Have apple trees, blueberries, and a small vineyard I need to learn.
I have a tiny yard in the south and it’s pretty much paved so container is the only way I can go until (if?) I manage to buy a house with a plantable area. Currently have some citrus in containers producing, a bunch of basil, tomatoes, and some various sprawlers like squash. I wish I had the space to put them all in the ground but I gotta work with what I have.
Usually use heirloom seeds or hardware starter plants but gotta pick varieties that are good for containers so I don’t get that many options.
I figured that potatoes would still be productive in the seasons when tomatoes aren’t growing on the branches due to heat or cold but I could be wrong since i’m still learning a lot.
Northern and central Alabama myself. Tater experience from central AL.
I’ve heard of people having great results with container tomatoes by taking the drip line of the AC unit and piping it into the tomatoes roots. Keeps the roots very cool.
Taters have a long season, plant just after frost is done. Blackberry Winter is no longer a constant due to climate change.
To try and do taters in containers, I would build my conainers from cinder blocks and fill the blocks with dirt or other insulation. 4’ wide at a minimum and however long you want/have space/can afford. This would be for one row. Paint the blocks white. Bury a soaker hose down the center. Put the hose on a timer and adjust for high temps. You’ll have to fight fungal infection due to the higher moisture so it would be delicate. I would treat with antifungal at intervals through the hose. Taters need more sand than you would think in the soil, especially if you have clay soil.
Most of the container potato setups I see use a lot of sand and straw which I thought would help with the fungal growth, though they’re usually set up in something like a large trash can with an air layer of insulation around since it hold heat less than rocks but the white block idea with sunken drip line sounds intriguing.
We get a lot of clay in my area, but it’s also pretty rainy most of summer so I would probably need some sort of sensor in the soil to figure out when it’s dried enough for more watering.
Thanks for the response!
I haven’t tried it. Seems like a gimmick.
I’m not a big fan of container gardening. From the deep south, container gardening is for places where the sun won’t dry and burn the roots.
Grew up working on a tater farm. Sweet taters and Irish taters.
We’re in process of moving further north and my girl is excited to try container gardening again.
A plant takes in a certain amount of energy and turns part of that into fruit or root storage. You can’t really get anything for free.
I prefer heirloom seed or hardware start plants grown traditionally.
It’s been a long time since I’ve grown much of anything other than cacti, native ornamentals, and fungi. It’s a kind of work I swore off for a long time.
Just bought a play farm, will probably grow some tomatoes. Have apple trees, blueberries, and a small vineyard I need to learn.
I have a tiny yard in the south and it’s pretty much paved so container is the only way I can go until (if?) I manage to buy a house with a plantable area. Currently have some citrus in containers producing, a bunch of basil, tomatoes, and some various sprawlers like squash. I wish I had the space to put them all in the ground but I gotta work with what I have. Usually use heirloom seeds or hardware starter plants but gotta pick varieties that are good for containers so I don’t get that many options. I figured that potatoes would still be productive in the seasons when tomatoes aren’t growing on the branches due to heat or cold but I could be wrong since i’m still learning a lot.
Northern and central Alabama myself. Tater experience from central AL.
I’ve heard of people having great results with container tomatoes by taking the drip line of the AC unit and piping it into the tomatoes roots. Keeps the roots very cool.
Taters have a long season, plant just after frost is done. Blackberry Winter is no longer a constant due to climate change.
To try and do taters in containers, I would build my conainers from cinder blocks and fill the blocks with dirt or other insulation. 4’ wide at a minimum and however long you want/have space/can afford. This would be for one row. Paint the blocks white. Bury a soaker hose down the center. Put the hose on a timer and adjust for high temps. You’ll have to fight fungal infection due to the higher moisture so it would be delicate. I would treat with antifungal at intervals through the hose. Taters need more sand than you would think in the soil, especially if you have clay soil.
Most of the container potato setups I see use a lot of sand and straw which I thought would help with the fungal growth, though they’re usually set up in something like a large trash can with an air layer of insulation around since it hold heat less than rocks but the white block idea with sunken drip line sounds intriguing. We get a lot of clay in my area, but it’s also pretty rainy most of summer so I would probably need some sort of sensor in the soil to figure out when it’s dried enough for more watering. Thanks for the response!