growing veg in containers

Hi all
has anybody had experience in growing veg in containers, I used to have a very productive veg plot. But now because of age and shrinking garden, I have grown for the first time spuds in the grow bags. They have done very well I grew International Kidney and Pink Fir Apple but they taste awful or I should say they are tasteless and they are very firm when cooked. Somebody suggested it maybe because they are only in compost, I used a compost I bought locally that is supposed to be recommended by local gardening clubs, along with a potato fertilizer plus I put a good dollop of well rotted farmyard manure. Has anybody any ideas what I have done wrong.
A very despondent ( not very good gardener )

 

That's how I grow my spuds in "bags", so should have been fine. I grow mine in large containers, 3 seed spuds per bag, and I only grow First Earlies ... dunno if that would make a difference?

They need a lot of water ...

 

I grow my potatoes in large pots - see pictures. This season I had Corolle, Charlottes and Annabelles, all salad type, the yield was 1 - 1.3kg per pot.
I make up a compost of roughly equal parts sieved loamy soil, cheapo MPC, leaf mold and garden compost with some chicken pellets or growmore added.



Your International Kidney should have been OK in containers as they are Second Earlies, like Charlottes and need about 14 weeks to mature, but I don't think Pink Fir Apple were a good idea as they are Maincrop and need a very long season of about 20 weeks to reach maturity.

You might like this link:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=527

a-a

 

We pick our (soil grown) Pink Fir Apples quite early ... they were planted very late this year (I'm guessing mid June), and we have been harvesting Pink Fir Apple for a week or two. Whilst they are a main crop, they produce small-ish spuds, so I think can be harvested relatively early - we like to have them with BBQs in the Summer, for example. Whilst I wouldn't normally plant them that late! I don't normally plant until close to last frost to avoid the hassle of earthing them up, so lets say mid May and we are usually harvesting for BBQs from begin of August onwards, so 10, perhaps 12, weeks. Pink Fir Apple are one of the best for storing that we have found, still firm (in storag) come late winter.