Planting 5 gallon buckets half way in ground?`

[Stainless]

I got my raised garden ready this weekend and also decided to try something else. I had several 5 gallon buckets left over that I was originally going to build some earth buckets with. I drilled several one inch holes all the way around the very bottom and one in the center. I tilled the soil up and buried the buckets about halfway in the ground. I prepared the potting mix basically the same way I did in the earth tainers as instructed. I planted a brandy wine in one and a husky cherry in the other. I heaped the mix up and also covered with black plastic to keep the Spring rains from drowning them. As it warms up, I'll use some mulch around the buckets and on top to keep them from drying out.

This is basically a test and was curious if anyone else on here has done it and what were your results. I hope that the large holes in the bottom will allow the roots to grow through and into the ground as needed.

Was also going to try and grow some Kentucky Wonder pole beans in two other buckets buried the same way. I've never grown beans before but figured what the heck.. it's worth a try.

[rags57078]

looks good , if it was me I would have just put them in the ground and skip the buckets

[Stainless]

Originally Posted by rags57078

looks good , if it was me I would have just put them in the ground and skip the buckets

I've tried that before and the wet ground didn't produce a very good crop.. tall green plants, but blossom rot from holding too much water. That's also the main reason for my raised bed garden.

Plus it's easier to water just that plant and weed eat around it

[Goldie321]

Originally Posted by rags57078

looks good , if it was me I would have just put them in the ground and skip the buckets

Yeah, but if you live in an area where the soil is really bad (like me here in west central Florida), the buckets give you a small area to put some really good soil in without having to spend a fortune trying to improve a much larger area. I experimented with a few tomato plants in containers back in the fall and the results were so much better than planting directly in the soil that I decided to switch over completely this year. Collected my containers over the winter.

[Stainless]

Figured I would update this thread and how the plants are doing.

Well.. they're doing really good. No complaints yet. The Husky Cherry is loaded with tomatoes and so is the Pink Brandywine. The Brandywine is over four feet tall already.

No complaints so far.

[JamesL]

Mini raised beds! I remember reading someone else doing this here on T'ville but I seem to recall they cut the bottom of the buckets completely off.

[peppero]

Why not. Go for it and let us know how it works out.

jon

[JamesL]

Please let us know how it works out.

[Taterhater]

I think you are brilliant... however... I would use this bucket bed for things like horse radish that really likes to spread... maybe carrots? I really like it when people think outside the [box] I'm planting my lettuce in a child's messed up wading pool that "God" gave me after a wind storm.

[dipchip2000]

I did that for 3 years and it worked great. I am the one that cut the bottom completely out of the bucket and made a raised bed for each plant, leave half of the bucket sticking up and mulch just like a raised bed. I only changed because I built 3X12 raised beds out of 2X12s. Yes it will work. Just do it.

ron

[RayR]

Originally Posted by dipchip2000

I did that for 3 years and it worked great. I am the one that cut the bottom completely out of the bucket and made a raised bed for each plant, leave half of the bucket sticking up and mulch just like a raised bed. I only changed because I built 3X12 raised beds out of 2X12s. Yes it will work. Just do it.

ron

LOL! Ron, I am doing exactly that this year in a low area in my garden that is a problem if there are crazy rains. A poor mans raised bed. I can get all the buckets I want for free.

[Stainless]

Originally Posted by dipchip2000

I am the one that cut the bottom completely out of the bucket

I thought about doing that but since I wasn't sure how well it would root, I wanted to leave the bottom in so I can pull it up at the end of the growing season and see if the roots successfully grow through the holes I drilled.

[Tracydr]

I have some chiltepans from two years ago in pots, as well as passion vine. They have grown roots into the soil and can no longer be moved. I hardly ever have to water them!
These pots were on top of the soil. I think your idea could work. Keep the roots cooler,too.

[Alpinejs]

OT.....for those interested in trying the five gal. bucket routine, oriental restr.
get their soy sauce in 5 gal. buckets and it is amazing how many of them they
go through in a week. I have gotten over 300 buckets from just two oriental
rests and do all my tomato raising in buckets.

[peppero]

You could call your garden Bucket City. Very resourceful.

jon