vegetable gardening in 5gal buckets?

Does anyone grow veggies in 5 gallon buckets? I've always wanted to garden, but have no space (livin' in a trailer park) So I got some buckets and planted tomatoes in them.. with good soil and all. The tomato plants are dying! I dunno why, it's been kind of rainy lately, so maybe that's it.. they might survive though!

I also planted some zucchini and cucumbers a few days ago, but they haven't come up yet. Later on I want to plant some strawberries and peas maybe, if I don't kill off the plants I already have!!

Sooo, I'm just interested if any of you guys have had luck planting in buckets. I drilled holes in the bottoms for drainage. Oh, and I got the tomato plants from Wal-Mart, so that might be why they're dying! I dunno

 

If you are talking about the 5 gal white with metal handle, yea. I've used them to grow tomatoes with great success. Were they new or used?

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

Poor_old_dad -
Thnx for replying. I'm glad to hear that you've had success growing this way, I was worried that the roots might get cramped up or something in such a small container.

They're new buckets.. like 2 dollars each (the alternative was like 20$ + containers, so I thought I'd give this a shot)

I'm super-eager to see how it works!

 

I've grown in buckets also and have had alot success at it. I've tried tomatoes, green onions and leaf lettuce. Great to do indoors in winter.

 

i've grown veggies in buckets and it worked out really well. we grew tomatoes, peppers, onions, and garlic as well as a host of herbs. i used fish fertalizer on them because we didn't have access to any good manure or compost (living in an apt.). i suppose that we could have bought manure at the store but i don't think that my land lord at the time would have approved of a big bag of it sitting on the roof. lol

 

I've heard of a lot of folks having a bad time with Wal-mart plants. They come from regional suppliers, so your's will be different from around here. When you try again, get a pack (or two) of different varieties seeds. Maybe a full size and a cherry type tomato. With seeds you can try more varieties than the usually limited number of varieties of plants. The packs of seeds are real cheap, especially when you consider that there'll be a lot of seeds in each pack. Use some this year and save some seeds for next year, and maybe the year after that. Way cheaper than plants. Another thing is that a lot of the problems with tomatoes are from diseases that live in the soil. You can, maybe, bring a problem home with the plants. Not a problem with seeds.
When you get the seeds, also get a small bag of "Jiffy Mix" and a water spray bottle. I got mine at Wal-mart for about a dollar.
Then what I'd suggest is to empty the buckets and throw the soil away. That's in case there are diseases in the soil. Wash the buckets with a very mild bleach and water mix. Rinse well. There are different opinions on the next step. I put rocks (gravel) in the bottom of the bucket or flower pot. Some folks say they're not needed. Either way make sure the holes aren't blocked so you get drainage. For the same reason, I always raise them about 1/2 inch off the ground - that's real important. After the rocks, put in about 4 inches of dirt. Gently water with a spray from a water hose - but only a little. Then do it again and again. It won't take much. Be sure that just a little water runs out the bottom. This does 3 important things. It tests the drainage, settles the soil, eliminates any air pockets and gives the soil the water it'll need to get the seeds going. Ok, that was 4 things.
Anyhow, the next thing is to place the seeds on - not in - on the soil. Put them in the middle of the bucket, about 1/4 inch or so apart. Put 5 or 6 of them. Cover the seeds with about 1/4 inch of the Jiffy-Mix. The Jiffy-Mix won't cake over like soil can, and therefore you'll get much better germination. I plant everything using the cover with Jiffy-Mix. My main garden is 90 feet by 150 feet and is for veggies, cut flowers, blackberries etc and the herb is 24' x 48'. So it's a lot of labor and a lot of Jiffy-Mix, but over the years I've found it's worth it.
Anyhow, back to the bucket. After covering the seeds, use something flat and VERY GENTLY firm the Jiffy-Mix. Then spray with the water bottle until the Jiffy-Mix is just moist. Then check bucket very often and if it looks like the Jiffy-Mix is drying (you'll be able to tell by its color), give it a couple shots with the spray bottle. Keep the buckets warm, I use to put mine under the kitchen table because it was out of the way. In a week or so they'll come up. Choose the one that looks best and pull up the rest. If you want to you can transplant them into styrofoam cups (hole in bottom) and give them away. The buckets will now need as much direct sunlight as you can give them. Because they are well down in the buckets, they'll start stretching for more light. At this pointstart adding soil to the bucket. The idea is to keep the soil level even with the lowest leafs. As the plant works its way to the top of the bucket, it'll be adding roots all the way, giving it a root system that is almost unreal. At the end of the plant's life, gently pour out the soil and you'll see. Get some of the tomato cages and put them in when the soil gets to the top. They'll need a lot of sunlight. All along, water as little as you can. Over watering is the biggest cause of failure.
Holy socks, I didn't know I was writting a damn book. Sorry about the long windiness. I guess you need to be careful when you're typing and ... never mind, better not say.

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

If you're having trouble with the plants dying, my first question would be whether you put holes in the bottom of your buckets for drainage.

While it's possible to grow stuff in containers, it's not optimum. The plants do not do as well, the soil dries out and won't take water unless the container is placed in a tub of water for several hours, there isn't enough root room for healthy growth-the plants don't get very big-nutrient issues, the roots are over-heated by the sun shining on the side of the container & ad infinitum. Still, if the choices are container growing or growing nothing...You gotta garden somewhere.

 

i got some cucumber plants a while ago, dwarf bushy variety and the card says they do well in pots, and i just found some huuuge pots the other day(what a coincedence,hmm...) so im gonna give it a try...
dunno what 5 gallons looks like, but im sure these pots are big enough. ill probably do lots of potting up though so the roots dont get crowded earlier, and it seems like it would be better for the plant growth so it knows it has boundaries...

 

Yea, well when I'm not typing in "War & Peace"...

First some background: My grandfather got me started gardening while Elvis was in the Army (late 1950's), and it has been a big part of my life since. After high school, college, Army etc., I realized I wanted to do the back-to-the-land, self-sustaining farm type thing. That was about 35 years, many side trips & detours, and two failed attempts ago. Nine years ago I bought this 5 acre piece of land and built my little farm.
As to what I'm growing: Currently I have 3 gardens. They are an herb garden, what I call my speciman garden and veggie garden.
My herb garden is 24' x 48', although I'm working on doubling it. This is where I grow the cooking herbs that I sell. Included are peppermint, parsley(a couple types), sage, dill, basil(a couple types), oragano, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, chives and lemon balm. I'm also growing tarragon, a couple other mints, bee balm and a couple others. For now I don't have enough of these last few to sell.
The speciman garden is where I grow things, mostly herbs, for curiosity. In this garden I just to see what they look like or how well they grow. Some things in this garden are St. John's Wart, Gotu Kola, Fo-Ti, catnip, yarrow, valerian, pennyroyal, vervain, a couple types of coneflower, and a section with "herb" plants that once were grown for dyes.
The veggie garden is about 160' x 80'. There are 36 wide row, not raised, beds - each 4' x 48'. Four of these beds are for blackberries production, five are for cut flower production. The other 27 beds are divided into 3 groups of 9 beds each. That is so I can have a 4 year rotation/soil building cycle. For example, there are 9 beds where I am growing the veggies I'll sell this year. In november, I sew the winter cover crop (winter rye & Austrian field peas), next spring(2006) I till under winter cover crop, sow green manure cover crop (clover and vetch), in fall till those under and sow winter garden, spring 2007 after winter garden crops are over, till and sow green manure cover crop, in fall till under & sow winter cover again, then in spring(2008) veggies again. The veggies I grow for sale are tomatoes and peppers. The tomatoes are (usually): 2 cherry types (Peacevine and Riesentraube), 2 or 3 "main crop" types (Stupice, Rutgers, & something like Sunmaster or Floradade), and a couple gourmet types(Brandywine and Cherokee Purple or German Red). The peppers include Cayenne, Jalapeno, Sweet Banana, Tabasco and a type of bell pepper. Each year I try some other tomatoes and peppers. I'm also working on some latin american/mexican and oriental veggies.
There is also an area where I grow shiitake mushrooms.
What suprises a lot of folks isn't what I grow, but what I don't grow. I don't grow all my own food. Of course I eat what I want of the tomatoes, peppers and herbs, but other than that, it's barter or farmer's market.

Well, there's another essay. Oh well, sorry for the length, but you asked and that's the answer.

May the bugs in your garden eat only the weeds.

Peace,
poor_old(tired fingers)_dad

 

Gosh POD seriously...I'm so happy you can still come on here and type after working those hands all day.

And i agree that you do need a couple inches of gravel (I use styrofoam peanuts from packages, they weigh alot less and you gotta do SOMETHING with the little buggers)

I also add about and inch of charcoal to help sweeten the soil.
I have a few things I'm putting in containers this season, cukes for one thing.
I'm also going to try upside down gardening. I read a cool article in backhome mag. You actually have a tomatoe cuke or squash grownig OUT the drainage hole UP the sides of the hanging pot. I'll keep you all abreast.

Fractual, I am going to answer you tomorrow sweetie, sorry I haven't written in a bit...been getting the garden going!!

teepi

 

HMmmm .... I've never used styro peanuts, I assume you are going to use them as a low weight way to raise the soil lever to the top of the bucket. Along the idea of, "Reduce, Reuse, Repair, and Recycle", it'd sure be a good Reuse for them. I think I'd go with the citrus mesh bags approach.

BTW: Here's a maybe helpful tip... I've found a really great & free source for 3 to 5 gallon plastic buckets. In the town near by is a small/medium bakery. Actually they make almost nothing except cakes - 4 or 5 hundred cakes per day!! They get frozen eggs in 5 gallon buckets & other stuff in other sizes too. They were throwing out 6 or 7 buckets per day. I now have these buckets coming out my ears... I won't even go into how uncomfortable that is.

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

Container gardening is much fun ~ and at $2 a bucket, that's a very good deal!


A few years ago, my dad had a brew-your-own place, and had a collection of 5 and 6 gallon plastic buckets left over from beer and wine kits ~ I used up a zillion of them to have a wickedly layered container garden in my back yard, growing everything from veggie plants, to herbs, to flowers, and some varieties of bonsaied fruit trees.

And they made a steller looking water fall/pond too.