planting in bucket

cheyannarach wrote:

J_in_HamiltonON wrote:

cheyannarach wrote: I threw a FISH in the bottom of every bucket so they will grow spectacularly!

had me rolling on the floor , good one

I knew someone would get it!!!

Rose, be sure to throw some rocks in the bottom of your bucket so the crack stays open!

hubby is going to drill some holes in the bucket....funny....my kids love it when i sing *theres a hole in the bucket*.....

they have gotten a big kick that our bucket has a real hole in it now....hmmmm...still dont know how our bucket became cracked..

hugs

rose

I have several buckets that became cracked with plants that were BUSTING at the seams.....
they got root bound and then wammo....crack
of course these are buckets that were given to me along with very root bound plants

Here are a couple versions of wicking buckets I use that grow well and need less attention watering wise.
The two laying down are opposite ends of top buckets one of them sets inside the lower bucket which is standing behind. Fine screen is placed inside the heavy screen to help keep the MM in the column. Water fills the area below the top bucket and wicks up to the soil above. Drill three 1/4 inch holes spaced around the side of the lower bucket to let out excess water from rain or over filling. The holes are drilled just below the bottom of the top bucket. The 3/4” PVC fill tube is called for but I usually water the soil and let it percolate down to the lower reservoir, note the fill tube bottom is cut slanted to prevent plugging. This setup has deeper soil/MM so works well with carrots or whatever likes depth.

This picture is a little shaded for good details but is a single pail wicking bucket. The black part on the right the dirt floor is cut from a pail lid. Since pails taper a bid some guesswork is required to have the floor sit at the desired height and still fit snug against the pail. Both versions wire columns are 4 3/4 “ deep and since the column opening is 4” diameter the wire is about 13” long bent into a tube and woven together with wire.The wire columns are wired in place by drilling three or four spaced holes around the hole in the floor then just draw them tight together with wire, I used stainless steel wire. This bucket requires only one pail and its lid or other similar material for the floor/partition. Others have found alternatives for the wicking column this was available without going shopping. I have been gone for a week and water still remained in the reservoir after two weeks of hot weather it was gone but the plants were fine in the MM.

earth box LINK TO PLANS
Hi Westie,
I have one of those too, the earth box link has the plans. I grew about 10 basil plants very well in mine last year and only filled it with water about every 10 days or so.

GWN wrote:These are San Marzanos

i just LOVE the rainbow of colors rising from the bottom upward.

walshevak wrote:The bucket brigades. Strung, caged determanents, and portable with PVC poles.

Kay: what a great setup, I love it! And what timing! I just planted several plants in 5-gallon pails

("20L" pails here in )

I'm also growing a bunch of stuff in an old cooler. I wondered if the volume of soil and also the surface are would be sufficient, but if you can grow indeterminant tomatoes in 5 gallon pails then I should be fine. Yesterday I planted butternut squash in 6 gallon pots made from square water cooler jugs, I will post photos soon b/c I think they just look so cool.

In the photo's it looks like the pails are dug down into the ground - I assume the bottoms are still on the pails with some drainage holes? Also curious how long the pails last for you, my experience with them around the yard for gereal use is that they start to fall apart after a few years

The bucket brigade is at my son's house. His yard is almost pure sand. No, they are not dug in just have holes in the bottoms. The strung maters are on a thin clothesline which is tied to the bucket handle and to a emt trellis.

This is our first year using buckets, but I had a tree sapling in one for 2 years before planting it in the yard this spring. The bucket seem as good as ever but time will tell. We found the buckets were a better bargain than the cheapest large flower pot of a similar size we located. $2.50 each vs $4.50

Kay

Today a friend with a market garden told me to take her left over tomato plants or they go into the compost pile. Sooooo I took 9. I was thinking of the bucket brigades I read about here. I am not sure if i dare just plant them in buckets and line up next to the fence to use as a trellis. They are all indeterminate I suspect. I usually grow all tomatoes in some sort of hoop house.
Well here is for hoping for LOTS of tomatoes to eat fresh and preserve.

I will post photos soon b/c I think they just look so cool.

J in Hamilton, I am looking forward to seeing your pictures.
Taking pictures starts to be fun.

Turan wrote:Today a friend with a market garden told me to take her left over tomato plants or they go into the compost pile. Sooooo I took 9. I was thinking of the bucket brigades I read about here. I am not sure if i dare just plant them in buckets and line up next to the fence to use as a trellis. They are all indeterminate I suspect. I usually grow all tomatoes in some sort of hoop house.
Well here is for hoping for LOTS of tomatoes to eat fresh and preserve.

Haha Turan, that seems to be a similar problem among the forum. How could anyone turn down free tomato plants! It's amazing how much space one can make after the garden is "full" Good luck with the new babies!

I am not sure if i dare just plant them in buckets and line up next to the fence to use as a trellis

WHY NOT?
For fear they will take over the fence, for fear you will have too many, or for fear they will not ripen in time?

You seem to have so many scrumptious recipes for your tomatoes, likely not a problem

I worry about the cold nights, not setting any fruit and storms. I had no luck with tomatoes before building the hoop house. Well, these ones are planted, 9 plants squished into 4 buckets and 1 rubber made tote. They are in the lee of the melons hoop house. It will be an experiment in intensive planting, there are 4 plants in that tote (2sqf) and 2 in the biggest bucket. I am hoping that the stress will cause early blooming and ripening fruit. Right now they are covered.

I can't remember who but someone here said they have had success with two tomatoes per 5 gallon bucket!

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Use the fence to support some plastic hoop house style if you can.

Kay

walshevak wrote:Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Use the fence to support some plastic hoop house style if you can.

Kay

Thanks, that is my plan indeed.

If I fill a five gallon bucket with Mel's mix and some vermicompost. Then plant one indeterminate tomato will I have to add additional fertilizer.

Hold Everything and Stop the Forum!!
Boz, what happened to that chicken in your avatar?

Boz wrote:If I fill a five gallon bucket with Mel's mix and some vermicompost. Then plant one indeterminate tomato will I have to add additional fertilizer.

I have done this successfully. You will probably be good, but leave a little room at the top of the mix for water and topdressing.

Boz wrote:If I fill a five gallon bucket with Mel's mix and some vermicompost. Then plant one indeterminate tomato will I have to add additional fertilizer.

It looks as though its feathers got blown off by a hurricane.

Boz wrote:If I fill a five gallon bucket with Mel's mix and some vermicompost. Then plant one indeterminate tomato will I have to add additional fertilizer.

BOZ ,..... man , that's one funkey chicken in your avatar .

All together now ... " Lets all doooo , ..... The funkey chicken "

we have planted tomatoes and peppers in buckets/empty cat littler containers.... and they did great....we did give them some compost tea thru out the summer....make sure you have some holes at the bottom for drainage.....if its really hot they tend to need to be watered a little bit more often then other plants.....

happy gardening
rose

Thanks ever body for the info on fertilizer and water.
I found my chicken avatar on the internet and felt nobody else would like him so I copied him. He does kind of grown on you.

llama momma wrote:Hold Everything and Stop the Forum!!
Boz, what happened to that chicken in your avatar?

Looks like it's molting.