Bucket Veggies

Discuss flowers and annuals here
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PSU4ME
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Bucket Veggies

Post by PSU4ME » May 30th, 2017, 10:13 am

I'm hoping this is OK because I'm growing vegetables in buckets and technically they are "annuals" :)

I set up 4 self-watering buckets and i'm growing two tomatoes (better boy), a red bell and two burpless cucs (same bucket).

My question is around soil additions to really make them grow/flower/produce since I only have limited plants.

I used veggie and flower potting soil (sta-green) and with that i mixed in a bag of Black Kow. I also have 5 # of humic acid and 4# of worm castings.

Looking for some advice on the above amendments and/or others to set my plants up for success.

Appreciate it!

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chrismar
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Re: Bucket Veggies

Post by chrismar » May 30th, 2017, 10:41 am

I grew an entire veggie (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, etc) garden in buckets for many years (8ish?), and was always very successful. Some years more than others, but that was mainly due to the weather.

The two most important things about growing veggies in buckets/pots is water (which you've already figured out) and food. To start my plants I always put in a tablespoon or so of organic fertilizer (I use EcoScraps 5-4-6 now) and another tablespoon or so of garden lime for the fruits that are susceptible to blossom end rot (tomatoes and peppers) into the planting hole and mixed it up with the dirt. Tomatoes get planted up to their first real leaves, which are picked off just prior to planting. I'd then feed again with a tablespoon or so of the fertilizer sprinkled on the top of the soil every month or so.

Outside of the monthly feedings, just sit and watch and enjoy. If you notice some blossom end rot (BER) take a handful of the lime and mix it with a gallon or so of water and use the limed water to water the plants. The lime amendments seem to be a highly debated topic for BER, but it seems works for me, so I continue to do it.

If you haven't already, look up Gary Pilarchik on YouTube. He has a whole series of videos on container gardening, which I've found very helpful and informative over the years.

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PSU4ME
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Re: Bucket Veggies

Post by PSU4ME » May 30th, 2017, 5:57 pm

Thanks for the input, I'll go take a look at Gary's stuff!

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1977212
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Re: Bucket Veggies

Post by 1977212 » May 30th, 2017, 8:44 pm

If your on Facebook, rain gutter grow system is quite the resource.

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PSU4ME
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Re: Bucket Veggies

Post by PSU4ME » June 1st, 2017, 11:05 pm

No Facebook..... been off for two years now and I couldn't be happier (time suck!)

I looked around and read a bit and hope I have a good system going now. Added some mag I cal to the tomatoes and peppers and put worm castings into the soil of all of them.

They are all responding well (new growth) so I'll see how it goes. Thanks for the suggestikns

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