At this point, our tomato buckets is better advertising for Atwoods than a billboard! 🙂
These started out as 10 tomato buckets but Vince kept going and now there are 20 but I doubt I plant 20 tomato plants. I’ll plant however many I have here. I think I’ve bought six and a friend gave me four that she started from seeds. I guess that’s 10 after all but I’m not sure about the numbers. I think I’ll plant every other bucket with a tomato and in the buckets between the tomatoes, I’ll plant peppers, eggplant, bussels sprouts. If it ends up that the tomatoes shade the other plants too much, I can always move the buckets to a better location though that spot is going to get afternoon sun and may appreciate the shade. We’ll see.
That’s a pretty picture! Love Vince’s shop, the tree blooming, the buckets ready to plant!
Vince is such a perfectionist! He wanted everything to be level so he put landscape timbers down and leveled them and filled in with dirt. He was going to mulch between the buckets but me . . never knowing when to stop . . I said “I can plant small things between the buckets.” He thought it wasn’t a good idea but said “It’s your setup. Do whatever you want!” So, I planted two kinds of lettuce and some garlic chives in those spaces. I know what’s going to happen. I see enough rabbit pills to know the rabbits are going to eat that lettuce but . . rabbits need food too. 🙂
That little spout is for overflow so there will be some fertilizer coming out of there with excess water. The way it works, I’ll water and feed the plant like normal but I’ll fill the tube with water til it runs out. So long as the space between the two buckets has the right amount of water, the top bucket will wick from the bottom bucket.
We have just enough dirt in the buckets now to keep them from blowing away til Vince got them tied to the trellis wire. When it’s time to plant, I’ll add however much more dirt I need, put the plant in, add whatever dirt I need, put a bit of mulch on top and be good to go.
Between my grow bags, Atwood buckets, clothesline, raised beds . . my neighbors are probably wishing someone else had moved into this house.
Liz says
I know that there are a variety of veggies, flowers and herbs which are either good or bad for planting by tomatoes. Some of the reasons are due to impact on the soil, but many are due to what insects and other pests are attracted to the plants.
Since I am trying the grow bags, I’ll use some of the small ones to plant basil, parsley, sage and other herbs. I’ll get some marigolds to plant in the ground, around the bags. Another idea I found suggests planting lettuce in the same tub as the tomato since it acts as a ground cover as well as getting the shade.
This is a good article with a list of plants – thespruce.com and query “companion-plants-for-tomatoes”.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I have marigolds to plant around the tomatoes. Lettuce is great to plant around tomatoes but I’m not real concerned about it since the tomatoes are in buckets (no soil sharing) and the bottom of the tomatoes are about 10″ higher than the top of the lettuce. Here, the lettuce will be long gone by the time the tomatoes get big.
dawninnl says
I guess you are giving your neighbours great entertainment wondering what you are doing now!
Cindy F says
I love your set up! I think if we didn’t have such strict water restrictions this year I would have tried this. It’s perfect for moving the plants inside when an unexpected cold front moves through or when high winds are forecasted. Perhaps next year will be better.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I understand about water restrictions. Planting in the buckets does take quite a bit less water than traditional planting in the ground. Hope you’re able to not have restrictions soon.
Pamj says
Please .,.Need to know about these buckets & instructions how to set up ?