Ok gardeners, I could use some timely advice. I live about 30 miles NW of San Antonio, TX.
I have been planning my first garden for a long time.
I have actively embraced the project now and am putting the hard structure together.
I live in a rocky area, so have chosen to do raised beds.
I had the opportunity to purchase 20 steel warehouse bins that are 2ft wide and 4 ft long. They are 12 inches deep.
My plan is to garden on the east side of my home, as the west sun here in Texas is ferocious!
I plan to put the bins on cinder blocks at an appropriate height for me to get one of those roll along garden chairs.
I'm going to have my husband drill holes in the bottom of the bins.
Next I am planning to get ten 55 gallon barrels and put a spicket in each one.
I'm either going to make barrel stands out of landscape timbers or use cinder blocks to elevate each barrel.
I'm going to position the barrels under my roofline to collect water when it rains.
I want to connect each barrel spicket to a soaker hose and run it into the bin to water the roots of my veggies.
So my first question is how many holes and how big should I make in my containers for proper drainage?
Also, I was thinking of putting a layer of weedblock cloth in the bottom of each bin the help hold in the soil.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!!
Diane in Texas
Sounds like a real score - love the warehouse bin idea.
Here is my advice - take it as you will - I can only offer from my experience. I have been trying to garden in Wyoming High Mountain desert for 3 years with varing degrees of sucess. I went to raised beds immediately because our soil is so alkali and rocky, but mine are sitting on the ground so drainage is not a problem. My biggest problem that I solved right away without knowing about it was the low humidity. I built a shelter for the raised bed right away to protect the plants form our constant wind, and had the added benefit of creating a higher humidity environment that my plants loved.
Paint the outside of your boxes a light color. Prime the metal first! Primer sticks better than paint and will help the paint last longer. This will help prevent the metal from heating up and slow down the rust on the exterior of the planter.
I would recommend a single 1" hole or 4 to 6 holes at least 1/2" in diameter at the center of the bin. The weight of the soil will cause the bin to sag in the middle and the water will pool there.
Place a layer of pea gravel evenly on the bottom of the bin about 1/2" thick. Pea gravel is stones less than 1/2" 1/4" - typically what I get is rounded like river rock. It is like the pebbles you get for the bottom of an aquarium. This will give the excess water a permiable layer to flow through down to your drainage holes.
Cover this rock with your weedblock cloth to keep the soil out of the rock. If you get soil in the rock, water will not drain out right.
Add in your amended soil and plant away!
You could place a bucket under the holes to catch and reuse any runoff if you wanted to conserve water and catch any nutrients that wash through the soil. You may want to put a support in the middle anyway to support it, but if you want it to drain, make sure it is a little shorter than at the corners so it can sag a bit in the center. Also, a plastic liner may help prevent rusting of the bin which will shorten the lifespan of your garden.
So excited. Lettuce seedlings should be ready to go in one bed sometime this week, and swiss chard going in the other bed. Just need to beat the heat and get the outside garden ready for its fall crop!
