Spuduckets

[Brian D. Bray]

I planted 8 spuduckets today out of which I expect to get 150 to 200 lbs of spuds.

Spuds plus Bucket equals Spuducket.

For those who don't know a Spuducket (a word I coined so why would you know?) is a 5 gallon plastic bucket to which I drill a few holes about 1 inch up from the bottom around the sides of the bucket.  I then fill it will gravel until the holes are covered.  I put in a 1/2 inch of soil, set the seed spud on top, then barely cover with dirt.  As the plant grows I continue to add dirt until the dirt is level with the top of the bucket.  Don't cover the growing plant completely, always leave a few leaves at the top exposed.  Once the dirt is level with the top let the plant mature.

Once it blooms and wilts dump the bucket up side down and out spill the spuds.  Great way to dig them.
The spuds will be packed almost solid inside the bucket and the dirt level will actually be pushed above the top of the bucket as the spuds grow.  Yield should be between 10-20 pounds of spuds per bucket.

If you wish the spuds can be left in the buckets and stored inside an outbuilding, garage, or basement until needed.

This also works with peanuts.  I planted 12 peanut seeds which I will transfer to 5 gallon buckets once they are a few weeks old.  I don't know how many I'll get to grow, but I'm going to be saving the peanut harvest as seeds for next year when I plan to plant 2 5X10 raised beds with peanuts.  Then I'll save some for seed and roast and eat the rest.

[David LaFerney]

That's excellent - since I have lots of those buckets.  I've always seen this on the internet done with much taller containers, and it never looked right to me.  You've done it like this before - right?

[Bee Happy]

Love that idea, ripped up a bunch of taters digging them last year. - I bet it'd be great for sweet potatoes too.

[Brian D. Bray]

Works with spuds and peanuts, should work with any vegetable that grows similarly.  Harvest is as easy as emptying a bucket.  I've done it before to test t he concept.

[skflyfish]

I experimented with Ruth Stout's method for potatoes last year and really liked it.

Till the ground, lay the seed potatoes on the ground and cover with leaves of hay or straw. Add more through the year as needed. For me old hay worked better than oat straw.

It wasn't quite as productive as the ole trench method but it sure was easy harvesting. The potatoes are in the old hay/straw and maybe an inch or two into the soil. You still have to be on your hands and knees, but no digging is involved. Plus that much rotted hay/straw turned into the soil really enhanced it for another crop this year (beans probably).

I am going to use it exclusively this year.

[Natalie]

I grow potatoes by stacking wood frames on top of eachother and adding soil or hay as the plants grow. When its time to harvest I just pull up all the frames and harvest the potatoes and spread the soil out in a low spot in my yard that I am trying to fill in.
 I use frames that I get for free from the fence company, they are about 2 1/2 by 3 feet and they work great. I had 7 of potato beds last year, the fingerlings did particularly well and I predict this year to be even better considering the rain we had last year.
I ordered a large variety of seed  potatoes for this season, one order already came in and I am just waiting for the rest.