Gardening in Bags

I understand that not everyone is interested in having a garden and I understand there are a myriad of reasons . . all the way from subdivision restrictions to you’d just rather stay inside and cross stitch. That’s fine! I’m sure we’re pushing the limits on our restrictions with all we have going on and yes, I’d rather stay inside and cross stitch but I also love gardening and I especially know that a garden can provide some food for us and for neighbors and for Chad, Nicole and Addie. I could never grow enough to provide all of our food so don’t think that’s my goal.

We watched a show on TV a couple of years ago about a family in California who lived on a very small lot and they began planting. At first it was just food for their family but then they began growing herbs and specialty type foods and fancy restaurants began buying from them and soon they had every square inch of their yard planted in something. They were bringing in enough extra money from their efforts to buy the food they couldn’t grow and still had extra income. It was nice to see but it was a tremendous amount of work. They had big strong men/boys in the family who helped with the hard part.

We really don’t have a lot of space left for planting anything. Every time I say “Can I plant something here?” Vince will say “I want to leave that path clear for the propane truck.” Even though he only comes once a year, he still has to be able to get to the tank. I don’t want to put anything permanent over the sewer lines. On the other side of the house, Vince wants to keep a “path” open in case a truck needs to get to the solar panels.

So, grow bags are my solution.

Last week I showed the 30 gallon potato bags. I have already planted three more so I have 5 bags of potatoes. I plant them in maybe 6″ of dirt and compost, then add dirt as they sprout up so eventually, the bags will be almost full of dirt and, hopefully potatoes.

Last week I ordered 5 more 30 gallon grow bags from Amazon and it was $22.94. Today, those exact same bags . . I clicked on the link in my “orders” so I know it’s the exact same . . the price has jumped from $22.94 to $42.99. That’s a ridiculous jump, even in today’s crazy pricing.

I’m not sharing a link but if you go to Amazon and search for “grow” bags, you’ll find all kinds of bags. Check around and you’ll find some are less expensive than others. Just check the ratings and be sure they’re good bags. I’m not saying some aren’t good . . just make sure.

I like the 30 gallon bags for the potatoes but that’s all I grow in them.

I will use 7 gallon bags in which I will plant squash, broccoli, brussels sprouts, peppers, eggplant, green onions, etc. I was going to get 5 gallon bags but found a better price for the 7 gallon bags so I got those instead.

I am using 3 gallon bags for herbs, lettuce and kale. I will be able to plant enough lettuce for about a week in one bag. Until it gets too hot, I can continue replanting and getting more crops of lettuce.

All of our tomatoes will be grown in 5 gallon buckets

At the end of the growing season, I’ll dump all the bags and buckets into the compost bin, add grass clippings, mulched leaves, small kitchen scraps and then, about this time next year, I’ll use all that dirt/compost to re-fill the bags and start over. By using compost, I should need less fertilizer.

The bags will fold fairly flat once emptied and I can store all my bags in one Rubbermaid container for re-use the following year.

Another thing we’ll do sparingly – we’ll chop fish heads either from fish Vince catches or he has several friends who fish. They do smell BAD so we’ll only do that in small amounts at a time and when we have plenty of dirt so we can bury put those in the compost barrel with the tight fitting lid. The lid will keep animals out but there are tiny little holes in the ends for drainage. That will let the smell out so we have to be careful since we now have neighbors.

This is a good source for lasagna gardening in raised beds, which I don’t really do but it gives a list of materials you can add for carbon and nitrogen.

So, where there’s a will, there’s a way. With gardening in bags, there’s no need to till up a garden spot and while I wouldn’t try to grow corn or massive amounts of green beans in the bags, there is a lot that can be grown successfully in the bags and I can put the bags in places where Vince doesn’t want to build permanent raised beds since the bags can easily be moved if needed.