Container Cultivation

(Page 4 of 4)

April/May 2008
By Ed Smith 
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Materials:
2 5-gallon plastic buckets
1 plastic funnel (from hardware or home supply stores)

RELATED CONTENT

Tools:
Drill with a quarter-inch bit
Saber saw

  1. Fit one bucket inside the other bucket. The space between the respective bucket bottoms is the reservoir.
  2. Mark an oblong hole in the side of the outer bucket about an inch high and 2 inches long, so the top of the hole is even with the bottom of the inner bucket. Cut it out with the saber saw. This hole serves triple-duty as the fill hole, the overflow hole and the place to stick a finger to gauge how full the reservoir is.
  3. Cut a hole in the bottom of the inner bucket large enough so the funnel will project into the reservoir all the way to the bottom.
  4. If necessary, cut the bottom off the funnel so it is about a half inch longer than the space between the bucket bottoms.
  5. Drill a dozen or so holes at random in the bottom of the inner bucket.
  6. Fit the inner bucket into the outer bucket; insert the funnel. Fill the top bucket with moist container soil, making sure that the funnel is filled, but not packed with soil. Fill the reservoir, and you’re ready to plant! (See “Selecting Soils,” above.)
  7. There is a kit available for $15 at Gardener’s Supply that can be inserted into any fairly large (15 to 20 quarts or more) round container. The result is a self-watering container with a 4-quart reservoir. Be sure to make an overflow hole in the container if it doesn’t already have one.

Sources

Earth Box; Scranton, PA.; 800-821-8838
Gardner's Supply; Burlington, Vt.; 800-876-5520
The Garden Patch; St. Petersburg, Fla.; 800-519-8144

With the time saved by his self-watering containers, Ed Smith writes books about vegetable gardening, including The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible (available from Mother's Bookshelf). His other book, Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers, offers more information on this subject.
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