Anybody do bucket gardening?

[Alasgun]

Here in Alaska tomato’s can be challenging depending on the year. We’ve used the smart-pots in the 16 gal. size successfully for tomatoes; BUT not outside. In the greenhouse thay did fine down to a 10 gallon size, but took a lot more tending.

Then i built the beds in the greenhouse and everything improved. Now days, tomato, cukes, beans and summer squash all reside in the greenhouse. As a matter of fact; it’s just about time to move all the things started in the house out there! Probably 2 more weeks!

This Celebrity is 14 ft tall, 8 ft wide and 6 ft from front to back. We only grow one or two of them each year and always have plenty of maters.
.

[Gator 45/70]

Here in Alaska tomato’s can be challenging depending on the year. We’ve used the smart-pots in the 16 gal. size successfully for tomatoes; BUT not outside. In the greenhouse thay did fine down to a 10 gallon size, but took a lot more tending.

Then i built the beds in the greenhouse and everything improved. Now days, tomato, cukes, beans and summer squash all reside in the greenhouse. As a matter of fact; it’s just about time to move all the things started in the house out there! Probably 2 more weeks!

This Celebrity is 14 ft tall, 8 ft wide and 6 ft from front to back. We only grow one or two of them each year and always have plenty of maters.
.

Dang it man, You win the thread!!!

[Tripplebeards]

Yep, my dad uses 5 gal sized pales. Makes complete sense to use huge buckets.

[GregLaROCHE]

Be careful not to have the buckets or pots directly on a wood deck. It risks rotting even treated wood. Use something to keep them from directly contacting the wood, so air can circulate and the wood can dry.

[beemer]

I have a couple of old plastic 55 gal. barrels that I cut off at about 12 inches. Made a hoop of hog wire to fit in the barrel. I set out green beans in them and they climb the wire. I use some smaller buckets for peppers and a couple of beds for tomatoes.

As stated before the soil dries out fast so add plenty of water. My brother has a barn just across the road so have all the fertilizer I need.

I had a big garden for years but the wildlife enjoyed more it than I did. The critters don't seem to bother plants close to the house.

[jcren]

Check out the videos by this gentleman from here in Oklahoma. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gcXzH-5DOBA
We have used his techniques of making cheap "smart" self watering tubs for a few years now. We fill em with "compost" from where we fed hay to the cattle and they will grow about anything and the self watering part means we only water full grown peppers and tomatoes every 3 or 4 days. Cucumbers use a crazy amount of water when producing and require water every other day, but my mom was gardening in the same tubs with traditional drainage and was watering twice a day during the heat of the summer and getting far less crop.
Last year modified the idea with 20 gal totes from Home Depot and cattle panels for the climbers and it worked out great.

[super6]

I love me some patio maters, All I will plant from now on.

[thegatman]

You should come over and look at my garden. I did tubs for years with minimal success.
They have a tendency to dry out. Soil is the key factor. peat + organics + aeration.

[barrabruce]

Not as such.
Been doing hydroponics for at least 40 years.

And no I have never been busted , ‘cos I have never grown the stuff.

I only use use a couple of auto pots and my homemade hydroponic solution now adays but tried many types of set ups.
The blue 200 ltre drum keeps it watered for a couple of weeks when they get big.

As you can see I had to use a ladder to harvest some of the crop and keep the plants under control.
Longest plants was 26 ft when stretched out one year.
Too much effort so I went this way last year.

Much easier and I don’t have to climb and fall down.

Best way I found to have fresh veggies when I lived in the remote outback to coin a phrase.

Hope it helps or maybe inspire some thoughts of what can be done.

[Good Cheer]

Every year we have a bumper crop of burrowing garden destroyers.
Experimented with five gallon buckets last couple of years to thwart the little buggers. Five holes in the bottom with a spade bit. Old busted mortar and bricks in the bottom. Broken up sticks on top of the bricks. Soil needs to provide drainage but needs to have some elements to hold moisture as well.

Some buckets I buried in the ground like for squash and melons that I didn't want to have hanging way over the side to reach the ground. They did real good. Had several above ground buckets with tomatoes and they loved it too, especially once their roots went down through the holes. Peppers would have liked the buckets more if I'd paid more attention to soil prep; it was way too clay packed. My booboo.
This year most of the buckets will be above ground with tomatoes and green and orange varieties of eggplant.
Half the in-ground buckets were pulled up today. I'm doing the squashes, climbing beans and Armenian cucumbers in raised beds with trellises made from remesh (going vertical).

Lessons learned.
A sprinkler is a waste of time.
Positioning buckets in a group (spaced apart from each other) can still result in closed off access when plants get spread out. Once the roots go down through the holes it's best to not move the buckets. Positioning in a row works better.
To be sure the plants get plenty of water, the distance from the top of the dirt to the rim of the bucket needs to big enough so that it can serve as the fill zone for the water. In other words, to hose that volume full of water and it's good.
Sluicing the volume with fertilizer infused water is a good technique for fertilizing because the surface area of the soil is relatively small and inconvenient to work.
With that decreased volume of soil in a bucket, the soil quality becomes even more important.

This year most of the bucket planters will be above ground with tomatoes and green and orange varieties of eggplant.
Oh, and the upper parts of some rectangular buckets (recycling some sodium hydroxide containers from Scandinavia) are getting a hammered metal look spray paint for partially buried planters in the wife's flower garden.

[SSGOldfart]

you might want to look at Square Foot Gardening I've done it for a number of years due to being in a wheelchair works for me less work than a full garden.

[HWooldridge]

Every year we have a bumper crop of burrowing garden destroyers.
Experimented with five gallon buckets last couple of years to thwart the little buggers. Five holes in the bottom with a spade bit. Old busted mortar and bricks in the bottom. Broken up sticks on top of the bricks. Soil needs to provide drainage but needs to have some elements to hold moisture as well.

Some buckets I buried in the ground like for squash and melons that I didn't want to have hanging way over the side to reach the ground. They did real good. Had several above ground buckets with tomatoes and they loved it too, especially once their roots went down through the holes. Peppers would have liked the buckets more if I'd paid more attention to soil prep; it was way too clay packed. My booboo.
This year most of the buckets will be above ground with tomatoes and green and orange varieties of eggplant.
Half the in-ground buckets were pulled up today. I'm doing the squashes, climbing beans and Armenian cucumbers in raised beds with trellises made from remesh (going vertical).

Lessons learned.
A sprinkler is a waste of time.
Positioning buckets in a group (spaced apart from each other) can still result in closed off access when plants get spread out. Once the roots go down through the holes it's best to not move the buckets. Positioning in a row works better.
To be sure the plants get plenty of water, the distance from the top of the dirt to the rim of the bucket needs to big enough so that it can serve as the fill zone for the water. In other words, to hose that volume full of water and it's good.
Sluicing the volume with fertilizer infused water is a good technique for fertilizing because the surface area of the soil is relatively small and inconvenient to work.
With that decreased volume of soil in a bucket, the soil quality becomes even more important.

This year most of the bucket planters will be above ground with tomatoes and green and orange varieties of eggplant.
Oh, and the upper parts of some rectangular buckets (recycling some sodium hydroxide containers from Scandinavia) are getting a hammered metal look spray paint for partially buried planters in the wife's flower garden.

That's a great idea! I've bucket gardened for years but always had them on the deck and the plants get root bound in the buckets. Would be fabulous to put them in the ground. Probably take less water, too.

[Idaho45guy]

I have a couple of large 5-gallon ceramic planters next to my front porch that were neglected. I saw some strawberry plants for sale last week, so bought two for each planter.

2 days later, I captured deer walking through my front yard and eating the strawberry plants. Jerks.

Went to make tacos that night and the onion I had in my fridge for a couple of weeks had started sprouting. So, planted it in one of the planters. Hopefully deer don't like onions.

And I live in town.

[bangerjim]

It may work in wetter and greener and cooler areas like where you are at, but here in the desert SW, stuff just slowly boils to death at the root level in the sun! Even in light colored buckets, the sun cooks the sides and kills the roots from the heat. No amount of drainage or water will work. Plants in hot climates like to be in the cooler earth and not isolated in buckets that catch and hold the summer heat.

I even built 4ea) 10x10 foot raised garden patches 16" high for the wife, filled them with rich store-bought gardening soil and manure ($$$!), but things still did not grow! Except the weeds!!!!!!!!!

I keep telling her the best garden we can find is 1.3 mile down the street at the Fry's food store. Fresh quality "stuff" year-round. And no sore back and dirty hands for me. Being an Iowa farm girl, she has trouble facing that harsh reality. I grew up in town and never dug in the dirt!

Good luck with your bucket thing. Hope it works. I'll stick to the store-bought quality fruits and vegetables we always have readily available year-round.

banger

[rdlange]

Yes. On patio and deck and driveway. Google SIPs... self irrigating planters. Have done it for years. 5gal buckets, tubs, and indoor herbs on window sills with 1/2 gal juice bottles and 1l soda bottles. Have used both solid fert. and liquid fert. and both work. I did buy the wicking fabric/cord for the indoor, and peat moss/vermiculite for the outdoor, and reused with replenish. Without the reservoir plants dried out daily in TX summer. I like being able to move them around too. one tomato/pepper plant per 5gal bucket and I have been using 'small' hybrid plants except in the tubs when the cherry tomato go crazy tall and then let them drape all over a diy stake/string sorta cage I put in. Limited space and free buckets. Also easier to maintain/weed/debug. Google also 'urban agriculture' SIPs, grow buckets. I found Soil mix is important. Oh, Sqft gardening helped alot and how many in the tubs, and the "Dirt Doctor" [TX] Be well.