Growing in buckets

[Oliver Buckle]

I bought a bunch of builder's buckets, they were very cheap, and drilled holes in the bottom. Last year I grew tomatoes and cucumbers in them successfully, and had something of a failure with broad beans. I think they are 14 litres, and that just was not enough for the beans. Cabbage didn't do that well either. I have carrots in three of them at the moment and am planning more, they look as though they are doing well. I like this method of growing, they are not so heavy I can't move them about fairly easily, and that has considerable advantages, for example the carrots have gone into the greenhouse during the cold weather, and I can stand them on a hop up and weed and thin sitting down comfortably, a real advantage at my age. In the coming year I am thinking I will try them for parsnip, swede and turnip as well. I also tried chard, with discouraging, but not useless results.
I am also experimenting with different fillings, the first ones had about four inches of wood in the bottom, I now have some with leaves, some with twigs and some with chain saw 'sawdust' in the bottom. The top is a nice fertile mix of compost, earth, sieved burnt clay and wood ash, usually with a bit of bone meal or blood fish and bone as well, I have varied the proportions a bit.
Do you have any suggestions for other crops they might suit, or ways I might adapt them?

 

[Tetters]

I started doing much the same thing before my stroke and subsequent operation on carotid artery.
I bought some miniature runner beans which did very well - although I splashed out on very big round plant pots' Salad crops do ok too, with a few radish, spring onions and lettuce always handy for the kitchen. Herbs did best, cabbages needed rather more space, but are now usable - a surprise really, as although I netted them, the cabbage whites still got in and wreaked havoc. I left them though and now they've hearted up - so little cabbage is better than no cabbage I suppose.
Spuds were useless - they need to be in the ground. Parsnips just didn't happen. Tomatoes were ok, I kept them in pots in the potting shed - but buckets would have been better.
Let us know how you get on with yours please, it' good to compare notes.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

It was the pigeons that decimated my cabbages, I'll probably try again. I was hopeful as I found being able to move them around and separate them confused the cabbage whites; someone here said they need to land on three cabbage leaves in succession before laying eggs and it seems to be valid.
Parsnips I have found give me 100% germination, or nothing. Never worked out why, I can be using the same packet of seed and what seems like the same conditions.
I will definitely try salad crops, thanks.

 

[Logan]

I've grown tomatoes in buckets with compost out of the compost bin with nothing added, didn't even feed them because i had some other things going on but they did really well.
Carrots and spring onions did well but it's the watering that i slip up on, not enough.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

My spring onions didn't germinate, being able to lift the bucket is a good way to gauge if it needs watering. A lot of my buckets have small bulbs in at the moment, so can see what they are and decide if I want to keep them. I think a lot are paperwhites people have given us over the years, but I know there are some tulips and hyacinth in there as well as other daffs.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

One thing I have wondered about is orientation. When I move them about I put them with the pouring lIp pointing South. I have no evidence of any sort, but it seems natural for rooted plants to maintain an orientation, even if it isn't to vary location.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Another thing I find handy with some plants is to put in a stick and tie the handle of the bucket to it, it saves on pulling the handle vertical through foliage when they grow a bit.

 

[Tetters]

It was the pigeons that decimated my cabbages, I'll probably try again. I was hopeful as I found being able to move them around and separate them confused the cabbage whites; someone here said they need to land on three cabbage leaves in succession before laying eggs and it seems to be valid.
Parsnips I have found give me 100% germination, or nothing. Never worked out why, I can be using the same packet of seed and what seems like the same conditions.
I will definitely try salad crops, thanks.

I watched a cabbage white hover over netted cabbage - it worked out where it wanted to get in, eyed it up, folded its wings flat - very flat, and dropped like a stone, managing to get through a slit in the net I couldn't even see was there. I think they are rather more clever and agile than me. I wondered how it thought it would escape again once the eggs were laid, then decided it was a risk it had to take for the offspring. Amazing..........mind you, if I cast my mind back - a very long way, I can clearly remember winning a limbo competition

One thing I have wondered about is orientation. When I move them about I put them with the pouring lIp pointing South. I have no evidence of any sort, but it seems natural for rooted plants to maintain an orientation, even if it isn't to vary location.

It was hot last summer, so I left all my pots and tubs in the shade. They seemed to like that. The back garden faces North, but is very sheltered.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

It was hot last summer, so I left all my pots and tubs in the shade. They seemed to like that. The back garden faces North, but is very sheltered.

I love being able to move things about, I can take them away from pests, give them a bit of sun, or just have them close by to look at. I do think wondering about a butterfly planning its escape is not just a tad anthropomorphic but they are persistent in their pursuit of reproduction once they have located a target.
Facing North does not seem to be such a bad thing for some reason. Years ago I read that one should use the north end of the greenhouse to put plants against to overwinter. and it does seem to work. Partly I think extreme conditions tend to come from the east to east south east , or the south west; one cold east winds just starting to turn up around the weather system, or Atlantic gales, wild and full of water.

 

[Mr_Yan]

I did several buckets and the like years ago when I was at a place that the ground was bad.

Problem I had was something like a tomato in the summer could dry out a bucket in less than a sunny day so if you don't stay on top of watering you can lose it fast.

I limited to either fast crop things like basil and lettuce or peppers and tomatoes. If I remember correctly 3 bell pepper plants did well when planted together in one 5 gallon bucket.

 

[YumYum]

I love growing carrots in a bucket. At harvest I just pick the bucket up and dump it all in a wheelbarrow and get me carrots.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I did several buckets and the like years ago when I was at a place that the ground was bad.

Problem I had was something like a tomato in the summer could dry out a bucket in less than a sunny day so if you don't stay on top of watering you can lose it fast.

I limited to either fast crop things like basil and lettuce or peppers and tomatoes. If I remember correctly 3 bell pepper plants did well when planted together in one 5 gallon bucket.

I get round the watering thing by standing them in a tray of water, the wood in the bottom means they stay damp but don't become saturated.
It may also be that hot sunny days in England ...

 

[moonraker]

Anyone tried the hanging colander?
Great for toms/herbs
Hang it outside the kitchen door, Handy for collection when it's raining you do not have far to go.

 

[lifegardener]

Best thing I ever grew in buckets were bunching onions and salad greens. Being able to move a garden around is great.

 

[big rockpile]

Been growing Tomatoes in Buckets but lately I've been wondering about the root system.

big rockpile