New Ebucket thread (we continue) PART III

Lookie!

STRAWBERRIES!!! :D

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Silly girl. :)

Gymgirl:

You drilled a bunch of holes in the traditional ebucket design, right?

(just asking - not criticizing) - wouldn't it be easier to put a trellis and grow the strawberries up? What about bugs/animals coming along and munching on the berries?

I have an aesthetics question:

I have some birthday money from my dad. I want to get some paint to cover up the ugly orange (and also serve as camouflage against nosy neighbors/code enforcement since my back yard fence is chainlink and you can see straight through it), and I know I take sandpaper to roughen up the surface of the bucket, but what about the paint?

What type of paint would I use? Don't know if I have the patience to make a pretty design, but if I could, hubby may be more inclined to support my gardening efforts....

thanks.

SoFlaCommercial,
I've never grown strawberries before. This is my first attempt, and I followed the design Gessieviolet posted on the eBucket thread...

Krylon makes a spray paint specifically for plastics. Only thing is you'll need a LOT of cans to paint multiple buckets...

oh, okay - thought there was a paint-brush type paint. Was thinking of doing some freehand artsy stuff to it.

I'm kind of backwards - I'm growing many types of plants, but only four or five of each, so I'm only doing two or three e-buckets. I have to wait until it warms up a bit before putting any actual plants in, though - my last attempt at beginning of fall failed miserably.

btw - i see some of you stating that you have 200+ seedlings. WHERE do you put that many seedlings? or do most of you have some awesome plots of land? my back yard is about 60' x 30', but hubby won't let me use entire yard.

I give most of the seedlings away to friends and newbie gardeners...

SFC - if my hubby wouldn't let me use enough space to grow vegetables, I'd tell him he could only eat 6 months out of the year! I think that would put it in perspective. Fortunately, my hubby enjoys homegrown veggies as much as I do.

G G, I went to the store today and id'd collards .Got pictures on puter and will send them on tomorrow

my husband is meat and potatoes guy, who eats all processed crap. he will eat a salad but once a week. he's a chickensh*t when it comes to food.....

I think these are collards

No clue

Again , no clue , but aren't they all pretty ? No bugs but no fruit either .forgot the picture .

This message was edited Jan 15, 2012 6:58 PM

try again. What do you think G G ?

Not in e-bucketscuz I didn't have them set up yet , am ready for next year .

Digger9083!

Looks like you've got quite a blend there. My guess is collards, at least one Brussels Sprout, and some cauliflower or Broccoli.

Keep em fed with a little MG Water soluble plant food for veggies, and a little compost and stay tuned. They should head in the next 8-12 weeks!

Don't you just love a good mystery?

Linda

Collards and broccoli look very similar until the broccoli starts to head. The leaves of both taste the same to me.

G G , these are the little plants you gave D H the last time we saw you .
When you pick the veggies , are the leaves good to eat too ? I have never grown a winter garden , so don't know from nuthin .

Digger9083,
From what I've been reading, most of the gardeners-in-the-know recommend that the leaves on all of the fall-winter brassicas are completely edible!

I just don't know how to cook them, so I'll be looking for recipes. I have a yard FULL of greenery!!!

Linda your yard looks lovely. I guess I'm enjoying the mild winter, but sort of glad for the respite from worrying about weeds and such. I'm getting ready to go gang-busters with my winter sowing. Yeah, getting ready to get ready. :D

Have a great day!
A.

Hey, Amanda!
Long time no hear from! Thanks for the compliment!

NEVER in my life would I ever imagine praying for rain and COLD at the same time in Houston! The heat is killing my garden. I've lost several huge broccoli heads to blossoming, but not all was lost - the bees swarmed over them, so I figured it was ok to give them over to support my beneficial wildlife. But, I've still got silver dollar sized cauliflowers that are heading, and cabbages in wee stages. I NEED A DEEP FREEZE in the deep South!

Linda

P.S. I hear yah about getting ready to get ready. Went to HD and bought MORE mat'ls to build another grow light shelf stand. I have seventy-five 3" seedlings that need potting up and moving on to the cool room. That's only half of my total. Once they're moved over, I'll sow seeds for the 2nd half of the crops, and then the bell peppers.

I understand about the respite!

Linda

Oh goodness, you're way ahead. :)

I started the New Year with a leak in the plumbing/pipe to the main and couldn't use the water in the house for a week and a half.

Last week I took in another stray (I am the dog lady in the neighborhood and everyone that finds a dog comes to me) and Court decided to keep it. He's a giant puppy, and will be an even bigger dog someday. In the meantime, Court comes home to "help" at lunchtime. ha ha. Some help.

I have some serious organizing to do - I received so many seeds in trade and in the round robin I have to get some kind of system going. I am going to do some winter sowing in milk jugs outside, but I will also start some seeds in my iguana's room where the temp is always above 70 degrees and the humidity is fairly high. She's got an east and a south facing window - it's pretty bright and a friend gave me a small shelving unit that goes almost to the ceiling. If I can keep the lizard (and cats!) off the shelves, it just might work! Until then, I keep getting ready to get ready.

Hope the weather begins to comply with your wishes. I have been wondering if you in TX have been getting any rain to make up the drought?

A.

This is a picture of our cast iron leaky pipe. :D

Here's a picture of the giant puppy's feets.

I can I D another plant G G . D H found a broccoli yesterday about the size of a golf ball . . Don't know how I missed it two days before . Have two plants of B . Will it only make one head or will there be more than one on each plant ?

One main head per plant. But then you'll get some side shoots to keep harvesting until the plant bolts.

Ok , gotcha!

Hi Linda and all,

been awhile since I checked in. Have had to abandon all gardening efforts for a year or so. What a thrill to see the eBucket idea seems to be moving ahead pretty successfully.

Got a chuckle out of the strawberry eBucket comments on planting. Got to admit those were exactly my sentiments when I came up with the design, but felt the results justified the frustration.

I wonder: why not buy either sheet of coco planter liner (or even a coco plant basket liner) cut it into about 3 inch squares to fit inside the eBucket over the holes as you filled the buckets to keep mix from spilling out?

I planted by filling mix to bottom of each row of holes, putting the plant in and filling over the roots as I tried to keep mix from coming out. Took a while; I was not using the liner.

Seems to me if you simply cut a slit in the piece of liner first so you could slip the roots through from the outside then put mix against the liner it would hold everything in place, as the plants become established the liner simply expands to let them grow. Maybe some one can try and see what happens.

Good to see all the activity and the improvements to the system that have been made.
Lane

Lane,
You'll be happy (but not too surprised) to know I used the EXACT same method as you did to plant my strawberries!

can you all tell me where the instructions are to making an ebucket.

Here you go, jhmjhm11

http://allthingsplants.com/thread/view/3230/Make-an-eBucket/

Right here is where the discussion evolved on DG:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1011889/

Thank you, ladies!

I'm so up to my ears in tomato seedlings, I couldn't even remember where the eBucket threads were!

Hugs!

Linda

I'm concerned about the type of plastic used in e-buckets. Perhaps it's best to use "Food Grade" containers?

Here's a link that sells them for a reasonable price. Their shipping fees seem reasonable, too.

http://beprepared.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_MS%20C100_A_name_E_5-Gallon%20Bucket%20(No%20Lid)

http://beprepared.com/article.asp_Q_ai_E_94_A_c2a_E_bn_A_name_E_ShippingRates

HoneybeeNC - I get white food-grade 5 gallon buckets for the same price at Home Depot. Their orange, cheaper buckets (with logo) are not food grade. You can also ask around for food grade used buckets at local restaurants or factories.

Kindlekat - thank you. I will check Home Depot for their food-grade buckets.

well, guy, it was nice knowin' yah! Looks like I'll be keeling over soon from eating the veggies I've grown in the NON-food grade buckets....

It's been real...

Thanks, Linda - you've been swell . . ..

Rest in peace girl.......