Vegetable Container Gardening
I don’t want people to think that I am turning Oh My Aching Debts into a gardening blog but I can’t think of anything that defines the meaning of frugal better than growing your own food. The frugal minded will tell you that being frugal isn’t about being cheap or doing without. Growing your own vegetables is not only less expensive than buying them but the quality and variety offered is endless thus you have quality for less which in my mind is what being frugal is all about.
Vegetable gardening in containers is a little different than growing houseplants or flowers. Vegetable plants tend to require quite a bit more water and sunlight. As proven by the square foot gardening method, they don’t however require a lot more dirt.
In square foot gardening, each type of vegetable is allowed a 12 x 12 inch by 6 inch deep plot of dirt. If you stop and think about it this is about the same as most containers. The difference is that many flower pots tend to be deep rather than wide. For growing vegetables, we need to look for pots that are both deep and wide.
Self Watering Containers
If you are going to buy your containers, you have two options, you can go with the traditional pots or you can purchase the self watering variety. I recommend the self watering variety as it will help to keep your vegetables from drying out. These were made popular by Earth Boxes although you can find similar products for less money.
Self watering planters have a reservoir in the bottom that holds the water. They generally have a grate that holds the soil above the water so the roots don’t get water logged. There should be a small portion of the soil that extends into the water allowing the moisture to wick up from the bottom as needed. It all sounds a bit complicated but it really isn’t.
Make Your Own
If you aren’t worried about the aesthetics of your planters, these can easily be made with a couple of buckets and a cheap plastic funnel. Detailed directions for making these can be found at the end of this article in Mother Earth News but to give you a quick overlook, you drill a two inch hole in the bottom of one bucket. In the other bucket you cut a small hole near the bottom as an overflow and to fill the reservoir. You put one bucket inside of the other and put the funnel into the hole making sure that the bottom of the funnel is near the bottom of the reservoir. Put soil into the funnel and then fill the bucket with soil. The funnel acts as the wick to draw the moisture from the reservoir up into the planter. Voila! A self watering planter.
As you can see, it is fairly simple to make a self watering container for your vegetables. With a bit of ingenuity almost anything can be made into a planter. Old wheelbarrows, bathtubs, buckets, cans and even the kitchen sink could be turned into a planter. They don’t need to be expensive and there is nothing more charming than an eclectic collection of ‘vintage’ containers that have been recycled into a garden. Let your imagination run wild!
Resources
The following articles go more in depth into the light and fertilizer requirements of different types of vegetables. Check them out!
Garden Guides Container Gardening
The Texas Agriculture Guide to Container Vegetable Gardening
Virginia Cooperative Extension Office Container Vegetable Gardening
Square Foot Gardening Book Giveaway
Don’t forget I am giving away a copy of The All New Square Foot Gardening book on April 18th to a subscriber. To enter just subscribe to Oh My Aching Debts and leave a comment saying that you want to enter. Winner will be chosen randomly and notified in the feed on April 18th.
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Tags: frugal living, gardening, Homesteading
McDonald’s Pickle Buckets! You can get the self-watering containers for free. Just stop by McDonald’s and ask for their empty pickle buckets.
I’m SO doing this. Thanks!
Pickle buckets are a new one on me. I didn’t know there was such a thing. You also might want to look at this link if you are thinking about growing tomatoes.
http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/tomato2.html
We all need a dose of spring-bring on the gardening tips. I cleaned out the flower beds yesterday and gave the mulch pile a good turning over with the pitchfork. I can just about see the tops of the daffodils.
The pickle buckets at Mickie D’s are 5 gallon pails. I’d also check and new construction sites for used 5 gallon pails that paint and drywall compound come in. Just clean them really well.
I love the self watering container idea. I have a large collection of empty kitty litter buckets in the shed that should work quite well. I’ve been (sort of) square foot gardening since the program aired on PBS quite a few years ago. I have some containers in addition to a raised bed. I also grow some herbs mixed among ornamentals in the beds around my front porch.
I just discovered your blog, and like the mix of topics. I subscribed before I noticed you are giving away a book.
Greetings, I come from a long line of flower and vegetable gardening family! My paternal grandparents lived right next door and they had a small fruit orchard, flowers everywhere and always a vegetable garden.
My parents have always gardened. My mom did most of the flower part while my dad love to do two separate vegetable gardens. We had a huge planting of cannas that were so tall, my friends and I used to have a tea party right in the middle of them. My dad is now almost 90 years old and still has flowers, but a vegetable garden every year. My sister and I help him plant and maintain it and we reap a lot of the wonderful harvest. With his age, we need to try something a little different. This book intrigues me. Please enter us in your drawing. Thanks very much…..Cindi (I subscribed to your newsletter)!
Thank you for mentioning Mother Earth News on your Web site. We appreciate the attention.
Laura Evers
Mother Earth News
I desperately need to learn how to make my own containers, how to make them self watering, and how to subscribe to your newsletter! Please help me as soon as possible. I am somewhat cyber-challenged, but I am trying to learn. I need to learn more about making those self watering containers. Please help. Thank you for this site and for helping me. God Bless.
Angie
Hi Angie,
I sent this by email as well. You can click on the link in the post that says get updates by email. It will send you a confirmation and you need to click on the link in the email to confirm.
Here are some links to how to make different types of self watering containers. I hope they help.
http://homepage.mac.com/pondma.....iner1.html
http://www.instructables.com/i.....liter-bot/ These will not work for big plants but should for smaller ones like herbs and garlic chives.
There is also this article in Mother Earth News. To see a picture of the waterer and how to make it, click on the image gallery. http://www.motherearthnews.com.....spx?page=4
I hope this helps.
[...] Containers for Vegetable Gardening in a Small Space [...]
Thanks for the great idea … pickle buckets!! I worked at Roy Rogers a long time ago, and fast food restaurants go through alot of pickle buckets!
I’m looking for a fundraiser for our PTA involving vegetable container gardens.
Thanks for the great site.
3 Gal Kitty Litter Buckets are great for the garden….
I want to enter for the book!
[...] the same lines are these posts from Oh My Aching Debts, containers for vegetable gardening and 12 vegetables you can grow in a pot. Have you grown vegetables in something unusual? Send [...]