easy planting

[joesmarbles]

To all you gardeners at Tnet here is an easy way to drain you planters and save some soil at the same time.
If you are using buckets 3-5 gal size to grow food or flowers put an inexpensive food strainer/collander in the bottom of the bucket upside down to drain the soil
so there is no caking or mold problem. This will also save on soil which can be expensive. Dollar stores have the strainers for $1.00 each

Good luck.....Joe McDonough

 

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[Kray Gelder]

Great idea Joe. Whatcha growin'?

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Nice tip, thanks for sharing!

 

[A2coins]

Good idea I have a plant that the top of the soil gets whitish hope it's not mold

 

[joesmarbles]

Thanks guys, krey gelder this is only my second year planting. I retired a year and a half ago.
My garden is divided into four sections, two for flowers and two for vegetables plus I have four growing tables for bucket planting.
In my flowers sections I have 130 exotic tulips. flames, frilly edges, different colors such as solid purple, yellow with red flames, white with purple flames etc.Also about 12 asian lillies.

My vegetable sections are Kentucky wonder pole beans, heirloom tomatoes, silver queen corn.
Next vegetables section is Sun glo tomatoes, green arrow peas and cucumbers.
In the buckets are watermelon radishes, red globe radishes, golden wax beans, green bush beans, turnips, organic carrots, scarlet nantes carrots and more.
So far so good, looking for a great season.

Sprouting so far at both radishes, kentucky wonder beans, green arrow peas, turnips and both carrots and sun glo tomatoes.

Joe McDonough

 

[Kray Gelder]

Congrats on retiring. Sounds like a great garden, and it all sounds yummy. I grew up in tulip country, just south of the Skagit in Washington. Love 'em.

 

[joesmarbles]

Krey the best part of the garden is sharing it with the neighborhood kids. They love picking fresh veggies and learning about what is blooming. I also have four museum quality(BIG) fosssils
that are more than 200 million years old that they love to see and learn about. Lepidendrons including a rare branching one and a tree crotch with some color from the original bark visible.

Life is very good in my little piece of heaven.....Joe McDonough

 

[joesmarbles]

Here is an update on how my planting with a colander in my buckets has worked. We have had more rain this year than last year. Last year was the wettest in the history of Pennsylvania.
We are at almost 18" of rain already. Last sunday my neighbors harvested scallions from my garden for their Ramadan meal. Today in the rain I picked radishes. I have planted more than 40 buckets/containers of flowers and vegetables and all but one has sprouted. I think with a little sunshine that one will sprout also. With all this rain I have to say my method of using a strainer in my buckets has worked out great.....Joe McDonough

 

[pa plateau hiker]

Joesmarbles, yes, last year was terribly wet. I couldn't work the soil til June. This spring we had one day that the soil was dry enough to plant, so I planted parsnips on April 13. After that, the weather turned wet and cold. Parsnips are notoriously slow to germinate and I thought I had lost them, but they finally did pop through the soil. Last year I grew sweet potatoes in 5 gal. buckets and they did better then what was growing in my garden.

 

[Duckshot]

Good idea with the colander.

I got my Hungarian wax peppers in 4" pots right now, they will grow in five gallon planters.

My Tomatoes are about a foot high and might go in the ground next week. The sqaush has popped up. Peas, beans, cabbage, and kohlrabi are going in too. I also got four tobaccos started. Gotta have nicotine to spray on the peas and beans or the Japaneese Beetles will eat them to the stem.

 

[joesmarbles]

Plateau hiker and duckshot where are you guys located? I am I Wilkes Barre.....Joe McDonough

 

[Duckshot]

Zone 5.

 

[Peyton Manning]

Bet that works for weed too

 

[Keppy]

Nice post .... I also use stro foam peanuts in my pots to help drain water and also i do not have to use as much soil..

 

[Duckshot]

Good idea I have a plant that the top of the soil gets whitish hope it's not mold

When I'm starting plants I mist them, but once it's a seedling I water from the bottom up to prevent mold. Dip the bottom 2" of a potted plant into water, let it drain, and you are done. The water is in the bottom, the top is too dry for mold.

 

[fistfulladirt]

I do some container gardening but mostly square foot raised bed. I’m trying the “potato tower” this year.
Odd that you have neighborhood kids that are into veggies, my wife and kids eat little to no fruits and vegetables.

 

[pa plateau hiker]

Plateau hiker and duckshot where are you guys located? I am I Wilkes Barre.....Joe McDonough

Sent you PM.

 

[joesmarbles]

Fistfulladirt, I try my best to teach wonderment and amazement to the children of the neighborhood. To watch a child who has little fresh vegetables pick a green bean or suger snap pea or a fresh carrot
and then rinse it and eat it for the first time amazes many of them and makes them wonder what this tastes like and what that tastes like. Then the adventure begins for the children and it can last a lifetime.
Joe McDonough

 

[joesmarbles]

Thanks Pa plateau hiker.....Joe McDonough

 

[joesmarbles]

Update on my planting technique, on June first (6/1/10) my first peppers appeared. jalapeno, lady bell and Hungarian wax . All the other pepper plants are well flowered.

My Cherokee tomatoes are well flowered. Anybody in Pa. knows that we have had tons of rain and I believe that without using colanders in my planters/buckets much of my work would have been for naught.

Joe McDonough