New Ebucket thread (we continue)

VitaVeggieMan,
You have got it going ON!! Great looking vessels and veggies!

Linda

Looking great, VitaVeggieMan. Please keep us posted on your progress.

@ luvcats

Yes, I decorated mine with a stencil I made myself. But then I forgot to spray the rest. I might do that again. It was just a little design with leaves coming out of a bowl, like a visual "container garden" symbol. I was worried the neighbors would complain I was making my yard look trashy because of all the buckets, but no one ever complained to my face.

I also use a water-barrel system to water everything. I built it myself from an instructable (not of my design) and it works great, I never worry about running out, and I don't have the chemicals in my water that the city water has. The only thing is that it's not too high pressure, so doesn't "mist" well, but it fill my PVC piped reservoirs great!!

I haven't checked this thread in awhile, as soon as I find my camera cord, I'll post some updates for the veggie-table (doing great!) and my e-buckets in their second year.

My tomato in my bucket is almost done. I have picked hundreds of little tomatoes from it. I think they were called Tiny Tim.

VitaVeggieman: I hope those aren't the last of your pics! I plant lettuce, cabbage, collards in the fall/winter, and was wondering where and how I was going to do this, you just gave me the answer! Looks great, so keep us updated on they grow will ya?
joy

Hi yall!
Okay, I planted two "better boys" tomato plants in ebuckets this year and they are doing great! I was wondering should I prune the bottom of the plant to promote better growth?
Thanks

Hi,
It depends upon the type of mater, determinate or indeterminate. Indeterminate maters, you should wait until the first bloom branch appears. Trim all branches below the bloom branch. Stake and tie the stem as it grows.
Be sure you have a long stake, about 10', as it will keep growing up and up.
Some people even have to take the mater loose and lay the lower part of the stem down it their stakes are too short.
Determinate maters are bushy and won't get any taller that God made them.
Always pinch off the sucker branches that form at the crotch of main branches.
With Indeterminate maters, you can force a V by tipping the plant over and encouraging side growth from a lower sucker early, treating it as another main branch.
I was in a greenhouse where they were growing commercial cherry maters in a hydroponic system They were 8 years old and the vines were about 3" in diameter. The vines had grown around and around the greenhouse.

I didn't realize tomatoes could be made to act as perennials, those plants must have looked like bonsai trees with trunks that size!

BTW: my brother- in -law came up with a unique stake system for his tomatoes in eBucket.

This was his fist attempt and he misinterpreted my oral instructions, but I think this is a fantastic idea.

He used a long pvc pipe, positioned in the middle of the bucket! He waters through this but also ties his tomato to the pipe.

So far, pipe is holding up to weight of a full load of tomatoes.

I believe he will eventually have to anchor the eBucket someway to keep it from tipping. We'll see. Trying to get pictures of his set up.

Last year he tried growing tomatoes in a plain 5 gallon pail, with total failure. He is a convert now.

I was wondering about dried bamboo - maybe a teepee over each bucket?

The bamboo teepee would work wonderfully well!

AmandaEsq - I use dried bamboo as stakes in the garden, they work very well.

One caution about bamboo - don't be tempted to plant it! We have been having a terrible time trying to keep running-bamboo from invading our garden from the woods at the back of our home.

I'm currently using dried bamboo for staking. Its working well so far.
Thanks for info Lonejack and gymgirl!!

Hey Honey! i was in your neck of the woods, on Friday! Comic book convention! Nice city!

Hey everybody.

I injured my R hand at work a couple of weeks ago and am incapacitated as far as powertools and 5 gallon buckets are concerned. Going to have to get these vegetables into pots and start the bamboo teepees for the driveway. Does not look good in terms of building ebuckets.

The Scotts topsoil I mentioned is really fast draining which is good for your purpose. Did I see some one else simply drop a plastic gallon pot or larger into a small tub at the bottom with water in it?

I have got to do something really simple but fast. I am kinda put out with this wrist/hand thing. I'm sure you all can understand. :/

A.

AmandaEsq,
If possible, could you recruit a teenager, or a neighbor to come help you build the eBuckets? If he/she could cut the parts out and assemble the eBuckets, would you be able to put the plants in? Actually, it would be a win-win. They'd help you, and you'd teach them!

Or, better yet, recruit a DGer who lives in your area! Put out an SOS! We often underestimate the number of folks willing to come help us in our time of need. Remember, "we have not, because we ask not..." I heard that DGers have rallied to rescue and move whole gardens for each other.

Just ask... So, sorry I don't live closer. I'd come lend you a hand!

Linda

My Romaine lettuce (Gilad) decided to bolt last week, so I cut it all down and we had Caesar salad two nights in a row, enough to feed 6 people from one eBucket.

After cleaning, I filled two large bowls with Romaine. This variety (Gilad, from Park Seed) is pretty to look at and quite tasty, and it's supposed to hold up in the heat as well. I'm planting some more now to see for myself, along with some Jericho Romaine, another slow-to-bolt Romaine variety. I should have started them inside a month ago - it will be at least 6 weeks before it's ready for harvest!

I built a few more eBuckets, and used the one on the left for pole beans (Violet-Podded Stringless, direct seeded) and another for Teddy Bear Sunflowers (on right).

The larger maroon planter is not self-watering, but I found it cheap at Walmart and thought it would make a good container for Scarlet Emperor Runner beans and Night and Day Nasturtium's.

For both of the bean poles, I used an 8' Sturdy Stake and topped them with a Trellis Wheel, a little plastic contraption from Lee Valley Tools that makes it very easy to string garden twine like a Maypole. I drilled 1/4" holes in the top edge of the eBucket to thread the twine through. Made it nice and easy!

VitaVeggieMan,
Please show closeups, and explain more of the Maypole trellis for your beans. Thanks!

Linda

I really like that string contraption! :)

Thanks Amanda! The "string contraption" did turn out pretty good, but it seems like it may be a bit tippy in a strong wind. I may strap it to the deck post for stability.

Linda, here are a few closeups. It's a little plastic trellis wheel with tabs that you lift to insert garden twine. The pins on top keep the twine from slipping off, and the tabs close tightly enough to keep the twine in place as well. In fact, you can lift a tab and pull the loops of twine up to take up the slack as the twine stretches. I noticed that my twine was very loose two days after installing it, so I'm going to tighten it tonight.

There's a small hole in the middle of the trellis wheel to screw it onto the pole or stake. This little device does make it easy to create a Maypole-style trellis. I used one long piece of twine, and just threaded it up and down through the holes in the wheel and the side of the bucket. And it's cheap - only $3.70 from Lee Valley Tools (they also have lots of other cool gardening gadgets that I haven't seen anywhere else).

Here's a picture of the eBucket with the bean pole. I just drilled 1/4" holes at six spots around the rim of the upper bucket and threaded the garden twine through them. The pole goes all the way to the bottom of the wicking basket which rests on the bottom of the outer bucket. I don't think this would work in the single-bucket eBucket design because the inverted colander would not likely support the weight of the pole and plants.

VitaVeggieMan,
You just helped me figure out what to do with some surplus material I almost threw out last weekend. I gave it a double-take and decided to go ahead and keep it.

At one point, I was also trying to help design an efficient, one-bucket, eBucket system, and came up with the idea of using pegboard as the soilbed, propped up on an overturned planter or something or other. The problem of keeping the pegboard waterproof was daunting, and I never moved forward with using all those circular jigsaw-cut pieces of pegboard...until now...

Can you say, "Maypeg?"

One last pic: this is the 8' Sturdy Stake I used for the bean pole. It was a little too fat for the trellis wheel to fit over the end (supposed to fit a pole 5/8" in diameter), so I just took a course rasp and filed it down a bit until the wheel fit snugly and then I screwed it on. Overall, a very easy and cheap project, and provides a nice compact way of growing pole beans and other vining plants, e.g., peas, Malabar spinach.

Mark

Here's a link to Lee Valley Tool's Trellis Wheel

http://www.leevalley.com/us/garden/page.aspx?p=59783&cat=2,33286&ap=1

looks like a handy gadget.

LOL! I used to love to peruse the Lee Valley catalog! They have some of the most amazing gadgets , and their prices are very reasonable. I wanted almost everything in the catalog, whether I could use it or not. I made one tiny order from them, and received their printed catalog for three or four years. Better than a novel any day!

Don't you think it is time to start another thread for this? Almost 100 posts long. Since I am seldom on anymore, Gymgirl, you have my blessings to act as admin of this thread to change whenever ya'll feel the need for change.

Ok,
I'll start a new thread, BUT GESSIEVIOLET is still in charge!!!!

Don't
Can't
Won't

are totally UNacceptable with me!!! ^^_^^

Yes mam, how long do I have to sit in the corner with my nose against this little circle? LOL (used to make naughty kids do that, guess would be considered abuse in these modern times)

pushy.....


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