Rocky Mountain Gardening: Cucumbers 2010, 1 by pollengarden

pollengarden wrote:
If there are 2 tubes punctured on the same side, they fall over - keep them away from puppies and tools with tines. If the ground is too uneven, I suppose they would probably fall over. The directions say to set them up around a 5-gallon bucket. I use a upside-down flower-pot with sloping sides, it already has the right shape and doesn't seem to knock them over as much as I pull it out. They are more stable when they are 2/3 full and conical than they are at 9/10 full and cylindrical.

I prefer to set them up on the lawn while sitting on a lawn chair, rather than bending over for long periods, and getting the garden bed muddy and compacted. I use the kind old-fashioned brass nozzle that is in line with the hose and will fit inside the tubes. Then I grab the top in my fist and move them to the garden - for this you have to have the conical flower pot - they don't want to go back down over a bucket with straight sides. I admit, this moving them around would probably drive most people insane, but I've done it for years.

They work best with tomatos, but I have tried them with all my frost-tender stuff.

The photo is just for illustration purposes to show the size and shape of the pot and nozzle, I don't actually set them up in January.

This message was edited Jan 15, 2010 10:58 AM