What is the strangest container you've used to grow veggies in?

followingdream · January 2, 2015

Random question - what is the strangest container you have used to grow vegetables in? I'd love to see photos and share ideas!

Last year I used milk jugs, terra cotta pots, and some big popcorn bowls I picked up at a thrift shop. I tried using a 30-gallon aquarium (indoors) but it didn't work out.

This year I have some interesting ideas - one of which includes using an old bird cage...

guruofgardens · January 2, 2015

One of the people in our community garden grew potatoes and carrots in plastic laundry baskets lined with burlap. Potatoes did fair. Carrots did OK. She's going to use landscape fabric for a liner this year.

rwsacto · January 2, 2015

Small plastic watering cans made into SIPs for miniature cherry tomatoes.

I gave them all away as gifts. I don't think they grew all that well.

Also, last year I grew lettuce in beer bottles using the Kratky method.

There's nothing like getting a six pack of healthy food as a birthday gift.

amideutch · January 3, 2015

26 qt. styrofoam ice chest. Will last 2-3 seasons and costs around 3 bucks a piece.

http://www2.costco.com/Browse/Produc...10*&lang=en-US

Ami

salix · January 3, 2015

Not vegetables, but I once grew sweet peas in an old toilet tank...

NarnianGarden · January 3, 2015

Not very strange, but inexpensive: carboard boxes that were aquired as by-products of various online orders...

bower · January 3, 2015

Plastic sandpails, waste baskets, and miscellaneous pails and tubs from the dollar store - drilled holes, mostly worked great although some plastics are too weak or brittle and lost their bottoms after a couple years... learned that drilling is much better than punching holes with a knife!
Coffee cans, they rust out so no good.
Cardboard boxes, paper cups got soggy, moldy, icky, and melted while moving em.
Plastic shopping bags, in the days they were overabundant.. not durable.
Plastic compost bags, holes punched and folded and stapled to make a flat bottom, worked great and very durable, now in their 3rd year in spite of all weather exposure and cleaning with bleach.
I lined a milk crate with strips of the same compost bags for my seeding leeks last year.. also worked great.
I start seedlings in the plastic squares they use to pack mushrooms in our grocery stores. Had those for many years.

peppero · January 3, 2015

I have grown tomatoes in a sears shop vac.

jon

AlittleSalt · January 4, 2015

I haven't done this, but I read about others growing potatoes in stacked old tires.

mecktom · January 4, 2015

Wal-Mart shopping bags...the $2 ones...works great!

Labradors2 · January 4, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by peppero

I have grown tomatoes in a sears shop vac.

jon

Ha ha! I did that too! It was a nice big container - on wheels!

Linda

Worth1 · January 5, 2015

I grow stuff on this great big round ball that revolves around a ball of fire and is followed by a big rock that revolves around it.

Craziest thing I ever saw.

Worth

followingdream · January 5, 2015

Lol Worth!

followingdream · January 5, 2015

guruofgardens - what was the drawback to using the burlap as a liner?

rwsacto - Small watering cans, like the kind at the dollar store? I wonder what else the dollar store might have that I could try container gardening in.

amideutch - how much can you plant in the 26qt size without overcrowding?

salix - I'd love to do that, but I think my neighbors might not like the potty humor. Did you plant in the bowl too?

NarnianGarden - how did you keep the cardboard from falling apart?

bower - I'm definitely going to check out the dollar store now. So many fun ideas! And I just happen to have a handy Dremel tool for drilling holes.

peppero and Labradors2 - What a fun idea!

AlittleSalt - My dad has told me that's how they used to grow potatoes to maximize area and make it easier at harvest time (just dump out the tires and pick up the spuds). I would like to try this method some day.

mecktom - I've also heard that you can cut those bags and use them to line the bottom of not-solid-bottomed containers (like milk crates and such). Any idea how long they last if used "as is" and how to keep them from tipping over?

salix · January 5, 2015

I never even thought of it as 'potty humour', more of a vegetative pun I guess. We were living out in the bush at the time, so no neighbours to offend. No, not the bowl, just a cracked tank - and it was a pretty new one. Actually worked quite well, didn't dry out quickly and had built in drain holes.

January 2, 2015	#1
followingdream Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Minnesota Posts: 13	What is the strangest container you've used to grow veggies in? Random question - what is the strangest container you have used to grow vegetables in? I'd love to see photos and share ideas! Last year I used milk jugs, terra cotta pots, and some big popcorn bowls I picked up at a thrift shop. I tried using a 30-gallon aquarium (indoors) but it didn't work out. This year I have some interesting ideas - one of which includes using an old bird cage...

January 3, 2015	#4
amideutch Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Germany 49°26"N 07°36"E Posts: 5,041	26 qt. styrofoam ice chest. Will last 2-3 seasons and costs around 3 bucks a piece. http://www2.costco.com/Browse/Produc...10*&lang=en-US Ami __________________ Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘...Holy Crap .....What a ride!'

January 3, 2015	#5
salix Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: north central B.C. Posts: 2,310	Not vegetables, but I once grew sweet peas in an old toilet tank... __________________ "He who has a library and a garden wants for nothing." -Cicero

January 5, 2015	#15
salix Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: north central B.C. Posts: 2,310	I never even thought of it as 'potty humour', more of a vegetative pun I guess. We were living out in the bush at the time, so no neighbours to offend. No, not the bowl, just a cracked tank - and it was a pretty new one. Actually worked quite well, didn't dry out quickly and had built in drain holes. __________________ "He who has a library and a garden wants for nothing." -Cicero

January 2, 2015	#2
guruofgardens Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2008 Location: zone 5 Colorado Posts: 942	One of the people in our community garden grew potatoes and carrots in plastic laundry baskets lined with burlap. Potatoes did fair. Carrots did OK. She's going to use landscape fabric for a liner this year.

January 2, 2015	#3
rwsacto Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Sacramento CA Posts: 288	Small plastic watering cans made into SIPs for miniature cherry tomatoes. I gave them all away as gifts. I don't think they grew all that well. Also, last year I grew lettuce in beer bottles using the Kratky method. There's nothing like getting a six pack of healthy food as a birthday gift.

January 3, 2015	#6
NarnianGarden Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Finland, EU Posts: 2,550	Not very strange, but inexpensive: carboard boxes that were aquired as by-products of various online orders...

January 3, 2015	#7
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	Plastic sandpails, waste baskets, and miscellaneous pails and tubs from the dollar store - drilled holes, mostly worked great although some plastics are too weak or brittle and lost their bottoms after a couple years... learned that drilling is much better than punching holes with a knife! Coffee cans, they rust out so no good. Cardboard boxes, paper cups got soggy, moldy, icky, and melted while moving em. Plastic shopping bags, in the days they were overabundant.. not durable. Plastic compost bags, holes punched and folded and stapled to make a flat bottom, worked great and very durable, now in their 3rd year in spite of all weather exposure and cleaning with bleach. I lined a milk crate with strips of the same compost bags for my seeding leeks last year.. also worked great. I start seedlings in the plastic squares they use to pack mushrooms in our grocery stores. Had those for many years.

January 3, 2015	#8
peppero Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: selmer, tn Posts: 2,944	I have grown tomatoes in a sears shop vac. jon

January 4, 2015	#9
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	I haven't done this, but I read about others growing potatoes in stacked old tires.

January 4, 2015	#10
mecktom Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Southern Virginia Posts: 342	Wal-Mart shopping bags...the $2 ones...works great!

January 5, 2015	#12
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	I grow stuff on this great big round ball that revolves around a ball of fire and is followed by a big rock that revolves around it. Craziest thing I ever saw. Worth