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Post by grannyg on Mar 30, 2015 14:20:53 GMT
You just can't beat an old cow trough....LOL....I used to drag every one I could find home and put it in the garden area...those old rusted out bottoms work....and we would fill them with compost, llama beans, old chicken manure.....until filled up....and we would have such beautiful squash or tomatoes...They do not let us do curbside shopping anymore around here, but it was fun while it lasted, and the old troughs are still in use...
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2015 14:55:03 GMT
I love it.
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Post by solargeek on Mar 30, 2015 14:57:50 GMT
Did 100% container gardening for 5 years on 5th floor of Chicago condo. Great but I did not have your success at squash or cukes. I love the look and ease of weeding of containters. Great pics!
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Post by grannyg on Apr 2, 2015 4:30:20 GMT
an old cow trough and a throw a way storm door make a pretty good cold frame...these were onions....have also grown spinach in them in cold months...
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Post by blueiris5 on Apr 2, 2015 14:29:59 GMT
What a great idea. I use one old one with a good bottom for a water garden.
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Post by Woodpecker on Apr 2, 2015 14:48:04 GMT
I wish I could find one around here.
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Post by paquebot on Apr 2, 2015 15:58:42 GMT
I wish I could find one around here. Check your local Craigslist in the Farm+Garden section. I see them here now and then.
Martin
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Post by Woodpecker on Apr 2, 2015 18:07:33 GMT
I wish I could find one around here. Check your local Craigslist in the Farm+Garden section. I see them here now and then.
Martin
Thanks Martin! I missed you in HT I was Dreamy of there.
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Post by susannah on Apr 4, 2015 18:18:04 GMT
What a great idea! I love it!
My favorite container for container gardening was an old metal washtub. My grandpa dragged it home from the dump many, MANY years ago. He attached a top from an old wringer washer to it and used it to wring out rags when he washed his car. After he passed, I was cleaning out the garage for grandma and I found it. I removed the wringer part, punched some holes in the bottom for drainage, and it served me for many years as a container for gardening. When we knew we'd be selling that home, I planted it with flowers (since I wasn't taking it with me). Three years later I was visiting my old neighbors. What do you know, that old washtub is still in use.
I am going to have to look for a trough!
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Post by TommyIce on Apr 4, 2015 18:38:32 GMT
I keep my raspberries in an old trough whose bottom became holey. I wish I too could find more of them. I also use those big, blue barrels you can sometimes find at car washes. Cut them half--some across the "equator" and the others lengthwise. Lengthwise ones need a little bolstering so they don't rock but there's also something around here to use for that.
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Post by Woodpecker on Apr 5, 2015 1:28:37 GMT
I have an old metal tub I'd like to use. Thanks for giving me the idea.
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Post by farmchix on Apr 5, 2015 12:10:03 GMT
I subscribe to the theory that if there is an orafice available, you can certainly plant something in it!
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Post by jd4020 on Apr 7, 2015 20:01:16 GMT
Very nice! I have a couple of friends who use the old water tanks for this very purpose. I use anything I think will hold soil and drain well. My list includes raised beds made out of concrete blocks, (had a lot from a couple of grain bins and bought some when they were on sale) 55 gallon drums that were once feeders for weaned piglets, (great for carrots--I'll never plant carrots in the ground again) seed sorter drums (chard & eggplant) old tires and metal rings (these are what I plant my taters in) I'm going to position two old chest freezers so they get afternoon shade and plant strawberries in them, somehow we ended up with about 10 old strainers from cream seperaters, so I plant herbs, flowers etc in them and set them in old milk cans- they work really well. My mil used old iron kettles (they were cracked) and small, old white sinks mounted on sewing machine treadles (like the kind one washed up before coming into dinner) which I now have and continue to use. I used up some old water line hose to make large yard baskets to plant tulips & other flowers in. That one really looked like a big basket of spring flowers, it was real nice. I also planted up an old, shallow wheelbarrow with red & white petunias and white bacopa flowing over the front edge. That one turned out real nice too in that it looked like someone was dumping it out. I fished about 20 hanging baskets out of the re-cycle box at my local greenhouse. I plant 3 head lettuce plants in each. They get morning sun and afternoon shade. The lettuce thrives.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2015 20:17:52 GMT
I cut the plastic barrels in 1/3rds. Take center rings, put 2 together with pop rivets for a big circle 3' across and fill with soil, make the second ring 2'4" across and fill it, the 3rd a 16" circle for a strawberry tower. The 1/3rd barrels don't take nearly the dirt and no wasted material. I take a hole saw and make 3/4" holes in the bottom, I use a lot of them this way. Rows in the garden and planters for bulbs, easy to dig and replant and the gophers can't get to them. I lay woven fabric in the bottom and bury 3" in the ground. I also really like the big black tree pots for earl garden vegetables, they warm up in the early spring, I can move them on a dolly, inside in case of frost. Tomatoes do exceptionally well when buried 4" deep, the roots go through the holes and 2' in the ground. Make a big wire ring out of concrete wire and use 2 T posts outside the pot. 3 posts do 2 pots, 4 posts do 3 pots etc, right down the row....James
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2015 22:34:24 GMT
My wife and I do a little bit of container gardening in our backyard that we call our “Treadle Garden”. We started out in 2009 with a half 55-gal barrel (cut long-way) on an old treadle stand and a half wooden whiskey barrel on the ground next to it. Didn’t have much luck with zucchini in the shallow 55-gal half-barrel (too shallow and the plants fell over), but did alright in the deeper whiskey barrel. The following year, we went to cilantro in the shallow barrel and did better.
The following year, we got rid of the 55-gal barrel and went to plastic tubs that cattle feed supplements came in that a friend of ours gave to us. Her and her husband ended up with a bunch of them but had to sell all of their cattle shortly after that because of the drought, so while we originally got a nice supply of them, we won’t be getting anymore tubs. We’ve been on water restrictions for the past 5 years (water outside once a week), so we use some of the tubs to catch rainwater to water our little garden. We grow cilantro, tomatoes, jalapenos, bell peppers, squash, asparagus, and okra in 13 tubs. We collect rain water in 8 other tubs. Each tub is about 20 gallons.
I’ve been lazy about getting our tubs ready for this year’s planting, and we only have one tomato planted so far. We’re planning on going with the same plants again this year since they seem to work. The rain water tubs are already full, but every summer, we eventually get to the point where we have to decide which tubs to let go without water. But, we have always gotten a generous amount of veggies to make it all worthwhile. We eat everything except the jalapenos as they ripen, but we have been able to freeze enough peppers to have poppers nearly year-around. The cilantro plants grow year-around if it doesn’t get too cold for them, so we can harvest off of them as needed.
Here’s a photo from the end of June last year.
CD in Oklahoma
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2015 3:00:05 GMT
I will be container gardening for the first time this year. I hope I have success.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2015 21:19:28 GMT
My wife and I finished getting our container garden in today. We’re running 14 twenty-gallon tubs this year. We didn’t re-plant two of the tubs. Those two have cilantro and asparagus in them year-around, and both re-seed themselves. When the cilantro goes to seed on us this year, we’ll harvest the seeds, remove all of the plants and dirt, mix some compost in with the dirt, and plant the harvested seeds in the refreshed dirt. We’ll probably add some packaged seeds, since we have several packets of them, just to make sure.
We have 1 tub with a tomato, 2 tubs with 2 jalapenos, 2 tubs with 2 bell peppers, and a tub with one each jalapeno and bell pepper that all have pre-started plants in them. We have 3 tubs with okra, 1 tub of cucumber, and 2 tubs with squash that we’re starting from seed. We’ll wait for a few weeks to plant the second squash tub to stager the harvest a little.
Each planting season, we remove all of the dirt from each tub, and make sure that the drainage holes are clear. Each tub has four 1/2” diameter holes spaced evenly around the circumference of the tub, about an inch up from the bottom. As the summer sun shines on the tubs, the dirt shrinks away from the side of the tubs, and allows heavy rains to drain out of the tubs, except for an inch deep. We put a 2-3 inch layer of weeds and grasses that have grown in the tubs over the winter, plus some pecan leaves from last season, in the bottom of each tub before putting the dirt back in. The vegetation debris helps keep the drainage holes open until the dirt shrinks away from the sides of the tubs, and it also will be decayed the following year to help enrich the soil when we refresh the soil again. We like having an inch of water in the bottom of each tub. As some plants get large, they send roots down into the bottom of the tub to make a mat to retrieve the moisture.
We still end up buying many of our vegetables, but we can get enough of the ones listed to meet our needs. Nearly every year, we are able to freeze some jalapenos to carry us over the winter. The rest, we eat as we get them. We’ve tried other vegetables over the past years, but some plants don’t make it in our garden because of the birds, squirrels, and insects that live here, or the hot summer temperatures, so we’ve learned what we can plant here and feel confident that we’ll get crops.
We’re also nurturing a pecan tree and a mimosa tree in-between tubs.
CD in Oklahoma
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Post by LauraD on Apr 29, 2015 0:32:57 GMT
My town changed from smaller recycle bins to a great huge thing. They didn't want the old ones back, which are 18 gallons big, have drain holes in the bottom, and are designed to withstand weather. Can you say tomatoes?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2015 2:43:09 GMT
I have switched to almost exclusively container gardening for our veggies this year. We just moved (hopefully for the last time) and so I start a new garden once again. Since we aren't getting any younger, I decided that I wanted nice tall containers like the water troughs. So far I have 3 water troughs and a number of other big tubs. Our spring produce has been fantastic! We plant to switch out to permanent boxes made of cedar and barn tin. These will have a nice wide ledge to sit on while I work on the bed.
Belle
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