Container potatoes

[Chrestomanci3]

I've tried growing some veg in containers this year, for the first time, so am a complete novice gardener. I'm using garden bags with drainage holes, think they are 10 gallon size.

The potatoes are Cara (which are flowering) and Picasso (which are not). I topped up with compost regularly until the bags became full, and they've continued to grow and grow. The bags are now tipping over because of the weight of the leaves (there is at least a metre of growth over the edge of the bags). They've completely taken over the small patio area and they're not ready for harvesting (I don't think). Is this what normally happens with container potatoes? Have I missed out a vital step somewhere or do the plants always look as if they're trying to take over?

When they flower they should be ready. Having said that we planted some left over Sainsbury’s potatoes In our potato sacks during lockdown and they didn’t flower, so we emptied them last week. They had loads of lovely small new potatoes.

I think I just wasn't expecting them to erupt so much. Having been persuaded by the articles saying you can grow veg in a small garden/using containers, I wasn't expecting the individual plants to grow SO much. It makes watering them harder, firstly because even finding the bags under all the leaves is difficult, and then the weight has tipped most of them over.

Why don’t you empty one and see what’s there. I empty mine into a wheelbarrow then use the old compost as mulch round the garden. Compost that’s grown potatoes has good nutrients in it. Although you do sometimes get little potato plants growing from it.

You don't need to empty, just root around in the soil with your fingers and see if you have decent sized tubers.

I always leaves them till the foliage dies down, because all the nutrient contained in the leaves will be taken back down into the tuber - the potato's aim is to produce as big and as many tubers as possible to give itself a good start for next year.

I have the same problem and was told it was because I put them in good compost when I should have used more garden soil so less nutrients. The lush growth means the potato is using nutrients for leaves and not for the tubers.

I was also told to stop watering once they had flowered.

None of mine flowered! But the two bags I set up first had died completely back (yellow leaves etc). Dd and I emptied them both a couple of days ago and both had loads of potatoes in. I think these where Charlotte potatoes. We have 3 more bags that I planted a couple of weeks after these ones.

I'll be honest, I didn't fill the bags up. I topped up with compost probably 3 times and the bags still had at least a quarter left to fill. I'm not sure if that's wrong, but they didn't fall over. I've probably got less potatoes because if it though.