Growing in buckets

[bugkiller]

Just wondering if any one has tried this. I have very poor soil so growing in raised beds and need to bring in my own soil. I am considering diving holes big enough. To burry 5 gal pails and planting my squash, and climbing plants in the pail, my thought is this will keep the high quality soil in the pail and close to the plant and keep weeds out. Any input would be great. Fairly new to this and first couple years were very disappointing but I refuse to give up.

 

[Cluky]

I think it is fine as long as you keep feeding plants right? bucket won't have enough nutrients for the whole growing season.

 

[elbesta]

I used 5 gal buckets last summer in the green house for peppers and tomatoes. Some did ok but they did need watered every day when it got hot. And you do need a lot of extra nutrients as they tend to get washed out when you water. Next summer I am going to use raised beds inside hoop houses. We can get frost anytime of the year and a lot of deer that's why the hoop houses. I will still use the buckets but I got large shallow trays to set them in.
Here is a pic of the green house.

 

[flgardengirl]

I know some people in FL who grow tomatoes in a bucket in bucket method. They drill holes in both 5 gal. buckets and put a little dirt in the bottom bucket then plant the tomato in the top bucket and sink it into the bottom bucket. Seems to work well for them.

 

[3forfree]

I grew 1 potato plant in a 5 gal bucket last year and had good results with it. My garden was under water this spring and I was forced into planting all the seedlings I had in containers before the garden dried out and I could plant them. Planting in the small containers (about 1 gallon) caused a lot of the plants to become root bound, and they never recovered after planting them in the garden. I'm going to try potatos again next year and will also try tomatos, but all will be in 5 gallon containers and hoping the roots will dive instead of growing in a circle in the small pots. The potatos will go in a bigger container. Good luck with your project.

 

[tharlock]

I actually have some experience with this, but only last years worth of information to give. I have planted both in buckets that are in the ground and out of the ground. The ones I planted outside of the ground were potatoes and they did absolutely horrible. Now with that being said its because the got infested with grubs and I didn't realize it before it was too late. With nowhere to escape or move, the grubs wiped them clean from the root system. The buckets I placed in the ground I drilled holes in the sides and bottom, still lost small amounts soil when watering, but it was insignificant. The zuchini plants I put in the buckets grew but were all significantly smaller (plant size), than all the ones I put in the ground. The actual zuchinis were about the same size, perhaps just because I harvest them at that particular size. The only problem besides the smaller plant girth, was when I pulled the plants out of the ground. The root structure did a round the bucket kind of thing, almost like being root bound, and the entire soil structure came out. I'm not sure if you could just cut it off and let the roots rot or not, but I've always pulled the plants out. Hope this gives a little bit of insight, I love to experiment. I am going to try the potato bucket again this year and see if I can keep the pests away.

 

[bugkiller]

Thanks for the info. I would just pull all the roots and soil out as one and in the compost and reuse that soil next year. I was worried that the plant would be rout bound in the bucket. I may just do raised beds instead. just trying to find a way to save some cash on soil.

 

[tharlock]

I probably should have mention I also put rocks in the bottom of some buckets and soil, and planted herbs in different buckets. The herbs have done amazing! Its the middle of winter and I still have parsley, oregano, and rosemary that are still growing strong. I figured that I had already purchases the buckets and drilled holes in them, so they need to be used for something. I am also trying to get a hold of a few 55 gallon plastic drums, I read that potatoes grow very well in those. I want to do raised gardens this coming spring, but I am not sure I can justify the initial costs, unless I can find a cheaper way to make the sides. Good luck with your endeavors.

 

[3forfree]

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pallet+raised+bed+garden&sm=1

this link goes to utube showing a lot of ways to build raised beds using pallets. I'm going to build some over the winter to use next year in my garden.

 

[lazy gardener]

I probably should have mention I also put rocks in the bottom of some buckets and soil, and planted herbs in different buckets. The herbs have done amazing! Its the middle of winter and I still have parsley, oregano, and rosemary that are still growing strong. I figured that I had already purchases the buckets and drilled holes in them, so they need to be used for something. I am also trying to get a hold of a few 55 gallon plastic drums, I read that potatoes grow very well in those. I want to do raised gardens this coming spring, but I am not sure I can justify the initial costs, unless I can find a cheaper way to make the sides. Good luck with your endeavors.

You don't really need to put wooden sides on your raised beds, mostly it's for esthetics. I often make raised beds, and have not done a contained raised bed in at least 5 years. You can plant lettuces on the sides, or place flakes of hay/straw on the sides. I like to line the sides with newspaper, then put a flake of hay or straw on top of that. The beds, at least for me, will maintain their shape until I decide to knock them down. The one benefit I can see from having structural framing for the raised beds is to increase the ease of running a chicken tractor through the garden. If sized appropriately, you could run the tractor down the paths, then run it down each bed as it is completing production. That may be my goal for a portion of my garden this year. Pallets sound like a winner for this set up, as I am loathe to spend money for wood that will rot. I still have some white cedar planking that contains a raised bed that is about 20 years old. The ends have rotted a bit, but the length of stained cedar is still structurally sound.