Anybody do bucket gardening?

[cabezaverde]

The wife and I are getting to the point where we don't want to do all the heavy physical stuff for our garden. We are thinking about looking into bucket gardening, as it is just the two of us.

We have a large open reinforced deck that get's plenty of sun.

Any of you guys into this? Tips or pointers?

[Winger Ed.]

We do a few onions and a tomato bush or two.
The only thing I've found is you need good soil with a drain at the bottom of the pot.
Vegetables need more room than flower plants,
and you need to sort of trick them into thinking they're in the ground.

Something that's easy to grow, is sort of expensive to buy, and stores well is
grow your own herbs & peppers. Just read up on what kind of dirt and fertilizers they like.

Tomatoes are stupid expensive here, but one or two plants in a 5 gallon bucket
is easy to manage, and very cost effective.

[lavenatti]

Wife and I used those landscape fabric bags in an old garden cart last few years. They seem to work well and look better than 5 gallon buckets.

[Baltimoreed]

298405
I used totes one year for cherry tomatoes, they may have gotten a little out of hand. They got even bigger than this.

[super6]

I grew a large crop of tobacco in 5 gallon buckets and the crop was good, So I tried tomatoes and had a good crop. As said the trick is drainage and fertilizer.

[Gator 45/70]

10 gallon pots is what I use for potatoes.

[osage]

I switched from large pots to livestock mineral tubs after I found out that I could not keep tomatoes watered in smaller containers. The plastic mineral tubs are easy to come by when empty. Drilled 1/2" holes in bottom, a layer of landscape cloth over holes. Found that potting soil wouldn't hold enough water for tomatoes. Layer of heavier American black peat into bottom with good quality potting soil works for my weather conditions. Good stout cages for tomatoe or pepper plant was needed.

[ShooterAZ]

We do it with tomatoes, carrots, and green chiles. I'm even trying it with lettuce this year. The only tip I can give is to use really good soil. We use Happy Frog potting soil, good stuff.

[Johnch]

Last year I did 4 kinds of Hot peppers in 5 gallon buckets
Worked great
The buckets had about 3 gallons of dirt in each bucket with drain holes
When it got to fall I moved the buckets inside into the basement by the wood furnace to keep the peppers warm
I put Blue foam under them and a tray to catch excess water
I have 4' grow lights over the buckets
Now I also am growing radishes , lettuce , spinach and pickles in 5 gallon buckets in the basement under 4' grow lights
These are also working well in buckets
I think I will keep growing cool season vegi's in the basement in the summer

John

[Gator 45/70]

I once keep a Jalapeno plant alive for 5 years in a 5 gallon bucket, Weather would turn cold I rolled it inside until it warmed up.
I was offshore when a cold front rolled in, My then girlfriend let it freeze, I wasn't a happy camper.

[DougGuy]

A lot of gardening, successful gardening, is watering, and it comes down to physics. The more leaf area a plant has, the more water will evaporate from it's leaves, so something like tomatoes would need to be watered multiple times daily to produce in a 5gal bucket, and there really isn't enough room for the roots to spread out.

As already mentioned, good soil, drainage, but consider the size of the plant come late summer, and how much water it will need, and size the containers you want to grow in accordingly.

[GhostHawk]

I have done it with Hydoponics on a limited scale using cat liter buckets and a couple of 3" holes drilled into the lid.

On the 6th of june I had tomatoes showing when we got a heavy rainstorm. Those plants need air as well as water to the roots. The rain filled them to the top and drowned them. But a single 1/2" hole in the side some 2-3" down from the top could have saved my plants. Allowing excess water to simply drain away.

Quart mason jars wrapped in black plastic to prevent algee growth did grow a bumper crop of a couple of kinds of lettuce.

Only needed minimum maintance once a week to refill liquid levels back to 3/4's.

I also grew a big crop of Bok Choi over the winter indoors under lights. Mostly using 6$ 4' harbor freight strip LED's.

Was thinking this year I wanted to try potatoes where I added dirt to the box once they set flowers.

[HWooldridge]

I grow lots of plants in 5 gallon plastic buckets. Drill two 1/2" holes in the bottom and put the buckets in one of those water catch pans you can buy at the big box stores. We live near San Antonio and it gets hot as hell in the summer but I only have to water once a day if they are sitting in a 2" tall pan. The water wicks up to the roots through the drain holes, and the plant doesn't drown when a heavy rain hits and dumps 6 inches (which happens here with some regularity - feast or famine).

I've saved several plants over a few years but they do tend to eventually get root bound so I'll eventually put them in the ground and let them freeze when the seasons change.

[LenH]

I grow a variety of pepper plants in buckets and large flower pots.
Been doing this for years. I water almost daily and use a good fertilizer every 2 weeks or so.

[Shawlerbrook]

I have done it in the past. Like above water, good soil and enough root room are the keys.

[farmerjim]

I grew tomatoes in whiskey aging barrels on my balcony when I lived in an apartment in Montreal. After 3 1/2 years I bought a house and had a large garden in the back yard. I then bought 115 acres just across the border in New York. All my gardens have been over an acre in size since then.
I do have 3 4X10 raised bed cold frames up near the house for a winter garden.

[MOA]

We're doing a fabric pot hanging garden this year.

[Tripplebeards]

My dad does it every year. It’s like a broken record. Every year his plants come up like wild fore com paired to the garden. IMO it’s because the dirt heats up alot quicker. They ALWAYS end up drying up and dying because the roots have no where to go. I think the only thing that didn’t die was a mini yellow hybrid tomato bush that only grew a foot tall. I grow all my stuff on the garden because it’s WAY more forgiving. Mother Nature has your back when the plants are in the ground.

[gwpercle]

The secrete is to use a BIG container .
5 gal. buckets are too small ... you want at least a 10 gallon black plastic " Nursery Pot" ...
Landscapers who plant large shrubs and small trees usually have these leftover after a job and will let you have them ...little or nothing . Nursery's sell them new .
To get a decent crop you need a large pot for the roots to spread .

Use good soil , place a layer of gravel or foam peanuts in bottom for drainage , keep watered so have a hose bibb nearby .

When you get old a raised bed or raised pot is a back saver and with the plant higher it's easier to havest .

Those hanging upside down planters ... I tried a couple , no good . In ground or Large pot .
Gary

[WRideout]

Although most of my garden is in beds, I also grow some pepper plants in large pots, since I have them. Anaheim peppers did well one year. Tomatoes can be a little more tricky because they need a lot of fertilizer, and can dry out quickly. Patio (that's actually the name) variety tomatoes are bred for container culture.

[Alasgun]

298434Here 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.
.298435

[Gator 45/70]

298434Here 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.
.298435

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. 298448

[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.
298561
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.
298562
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:drinks:) 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:drinks:) 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.