I was recently at my local food cooperative talking to a friend about his gardens. He told me that he had a wonderful fortune to grow tomatoes, peppers and more in the bucket system he built. The inspiration came from the book of Ed Smith of Vermont, who wrote many great books, including “The Vegetable Gardener’s Container Bible.” And although I’ve used the Ed Smith system in the past, it’s good to see how others use it, so I visited to see what it did.
Susan Pillsbury has nine or ten watering cans, each made from two 5-gallon buckets. The lower bucket is the reservoir, and the upper bucket that nests in it holds the soil mixture. There is a 3 or 4 inch PVC plumbing pipe (3 inches in diameter) that stands up in the bottom bucket and is filled with holes that he has drilled into it.
The tube piece is located in the lower bucket and supports the upper bucket. With a 2-inch hole saw, he placed a wide hole in the bottom of the top bucket, right in the middle.
This short piece of pipe is filled with a mixture of soil, and because it is in the reservoir, the soil is constantly moist. As a wet sponge, soak the water into the soil in the top bucket. The absorbent effect keeps the soil slightly moist for the roots of the plant. Growing vegetables in large pots or buckets often has the problem of drying out or getting wet.
Each of the lower buckets has 1-inch holes drilled just below the bottom of the upper bucket. When it rains, the water passes through the upper bucket and from the lower bucket through those holes. This also allows you to fill the water tank from below with a hose. Susan also drilled many ¼-inch holes in the bottom of the top bucket for more drainage.
I asked Susan what kind of soil she was using in the buckets. He bought a mixture of flowers and mixed it with his own compost in a ratio of 50-50. Because there is plenty of soil for the roots in a five-gallon bucket, and because it uses a rich mixture, it does not add fertilizer.
What does it all cost? Not much, really. Its biggest edition was for plastic buckets, which cost about $ 5 a piece, although they are often available for free from construction contractors. A large bag of potting soil can cost $ 10-12, and three to four buckets would be enough to mix with homemade compost. Purchased compost would increase costs, but most gardeners make it themselves. Plastic pipe is not expensive.
I noticed Susan’s tomato was disease free. Most tomatoes planted in the ground have at least some distress that blackens and destroys the lower leaves, eventually remaining bare from the leaves of the plant by September. The most common form of infection lives in the soil and splashes on the leaves in the rain. But because his plants are in potting soil and compost, he has avoided the disease – at least so far. Not only are their plants in a fenced kennel (to avoid deer) and they haven’t grown tomatoes there in the past. Obviously, an emergency can break in and infect your plants, but so far so good.
Next year, Susan wants to grow corn in her irrigation pots. You will use six sets of buckets, one or more corn plants in each. When placed close to this, this should allow for good pollination. Based on what he has read, you will need corn plants that are relatively small in terms of how much soil they will be planting. I watched an online video of corn planted in 30-gallon bags, each containing up to 11 plants. The ears were large and each plant produced more than one ear.
I called writer Ed Smith (a friend of mine) to see if there was anything new since writing the book. With his wife, Sylvia, they still grow some vegetables in containers and soil. Ed has just turned 80 and loves to use containers so he doesn’t have to lean so far.
Ed said he no longer deals with irrigation pots. It has several 2 x 3 meter tanks that it received from Gardener’s Supply as an irrigation, but removed the baffle separating the water reservoir from the planting area, giving it deeper tanks that it irrigated from above as needed. He’s half retired and rarely travels, so that works for him. If you work five days a week, an irrigation tank is probably a better idea for you.
I experimented with irrigation pots and ordinary pots. The best type I use is “VegTrug,” which is sold by Gardener’s Supply. It is a tall, V-shaped wooden trash that is 6 feet x 30 inches in size and 16 inches deep in the middle. I grew tomatoes, peppers, herbs and flowers with good success – without bending. Made of cedar; mine uses the fifth summer and is still strong. I empty and put it in every winter. I reuse the potting soil, but I add a little compost and fertilizer every spring.
Even if you’re a city dweller with little space, you can produce a few things on board or between the sidewalk and the street. Try!
Henry Homeyer’s blog appears twice a week at gardening-guy.com. Write to PO Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746. If you would like a reply in the mail, please include a self-addressed, sealed envelope. Or email henry.homeyer@comcast.net.