Thank you for the step by step tutorial. As someone who's failed to successfully grow tomatoes in buckets I've taken to your approach. Five gallon buckets have been liberated from curbside recyclers and drilled accordingly; copper pipe has been salvaged in place of PVC; and yogurt containers have been substituted for the red solo cups. Bring on the summer! I'm armed and ready to plant!
@@Zissou42 That's just it: didn't have to buy anything. It was all freely available in the form of other people's trash. If PVC were being thrown out I wouldn't used that. 🙂
Fantastic 👍 One thought - depending where one lives, may want to glue or tape a piece of mesh inside over drainage hole to prevent mosquitoes from coming inside to lay eggs in the reservoir.
The slits in the side of the cup is a great idea! I've been reusing 4-5" plastic nursery flower pots that have a ton of holes in the bottom already, then I drilled extra holes in the side walls. The slits make much more sense! Thank you!
...my only issue with this is the amount of (non-food-grade) plastic you'll have up against your roots, with the intense sun and temp changes breaking down into micro-plastics for toxic trace-element uptake..
Well the buckets you can find being food grade a lot of the times. Just look for the numbers 1, 2, 4, or 5 (2, 4, and 5 being the safest) and recycle symbol. The pvc he uses could be toxic. You would need to look for uPVC which is safe and also if it is NSF-51 labeled. Also do not use any glues with the pvc. Note this is only relevant for the U.S. I don’t know if it applies elsewhere
I learned so much! Growing in Texas after living in California is a whole new set of question marks. Always looking for new ways to keep plants watered.
Thanks for the easy-to-follow tutorial. I'm starting over my garden but this time in buckets. The last winter storm down south ruined it all! I'm glad I found your tutorial.
I also do this. I’ve started lining the bottom of that first bucket & plastic cup with weed block material so the soil doesn’t leach down into the water reservoir..
newbie here, I was thinking of getting burlap fabric to do this but seeing other comments I'm wondering if the mesh blocking roots from directly accessing the water reservoir is no good. Not an issue/how it works? TIA!
I use these buckets for gardening, as it's easier for me at my age. I don't have the tools you use and no family left, so everything is done by hand. It can be done, but takes longer to do. Thank you for your video.
Thanks for the video. There are several videos and ways people are using single 5 gallons and this method also. After doing tons of research your method is the easiest and requires the least amount of tools and part to build. It the most efficient. This will be my first year using this method. It will be nice to be able to leave my plants for a couple days. Last year I had to water every day. Thanks!
Well it's a lot like gutter gardening. This year I'm gonna be looking into the cost and comparison of a gutter garden which is basically the same as this just a lot less work on my part after completion and laying netted ground cloth and this bucket set-up. The netted ground cloth will keep the weeds and grass down so I don't have to work so hard. It lasts about 4yrs and the water does drain through but it also kills the grass under it so its a win win on 4 acres that's needs maintained. The lesser of the two will go down then the other will get set after so we can see and compare the maintenance of each system and the length of longevity. Great video, never stop implementing!! Ideas feed the hungry mind.
I did something similar but put my buckets in 68L totes. Swiss cheesed the outside of my bucket and lined the inside the landscape fabric before putting the soil in. Cut a bucket sized hole in the tote lid. Drain hole 6" up in the tote from the bottom. Holds 3 watering cans to get up that high. Takes about one watering can per week with no rain and 86+ temps. I also use miracle grow in the water at all times.
You can get free food grade buckets at large chain stores with a deli. I went to a festival foods and asked nicely if they had any 2 different days. I now have a total of about 10 food grade buckets that are about 4 gallon size with lids for free! They aren't quite as large as a 5 gallon so I'm guessing there 4 gallon. The store used them for there potato salad they sell by the pound......I guess it's not made each day in the back. Lol. Thanks again for the video!
Last year I had over 50 five gallon buckets in my garden, had allot of success and a few failures. I used a tarp to cover the ground using 4x4 boards on top of the tarp to hold it down, and for my buckets to sit on. Doing it that way, I didn't have to mow the grass around them but, poked some small holes in the tarp for rainwater to drain. The best harvest was from the sweet anaheim peppers. The beefsteak tomatoes didn't do well at all. Cherry tomatoes, Roma's, and grape tomatoes did awesomely well along with the rosemary,thyme, cilantro, and sage. Soil consistency is one thing that I'm changing up this upcoming year. Miracle grow potting soil did ok but, looking for something much better. I canned 9 quarts of salsa from my garden late in the year so, I guess I didn't do too bad.
Red plastic cup is good idea. At first I went to Chinese food place and got a bunch of soup cups. Then I changed to pre made baskets. Another thing I do is cover bucket with plastic with hole in middle for plant. I use bungy cord to hold plastic on bucket. Now any water evaporating from surface drips back down. I like cage idea. Will try it.
😃👍 Glad to see the genesis of the inspiration here and how far you have taken it. Its nice to see that so many have been inspired from My $7 DOLLAR Self Watering Bucket System. There are now thousands of people who can benefit from all the tweaks we have all made over the years, I like your use of the red plastic party cup! The property looks great, it is my dream to one day have a nice spread as well to stretch the legs and chase some goats and chickens.
Great explanation. Now it's been a couple of years what are plants that it does or doesn't work well for? Or does it work well for everything you tried?
I can't stop watching this man's technique. It looks like it's so efficient. Can you grow ANY vegetable using this? Or is it limited due to complications? Great video!
I have been collecting buckets from restaurants. Just need to apply all of these great ideas I have and I am finding here.(before the wife gives them all away).
(Short answer) Can water either way. Don't need pipe. (Long answer) The system is so you can water fast and less often with a portable garden, my opinion. You can water quickly through the pipe til you see water come through the overflow. Thus not disturbing the soil or washing out roots with the hose. Also stores water so you wont have to water as often. If these are outside, when it rains it will soak through the soil and when the bottom reservoir is full it will drain excess through the overflow and keep from drowning the plant. Great system but I would replace the party cup with a dollar store plastic cup and drill some holes in the side. It wont break down like the thin plastic. Have fun.
hey did you know i love you lmao every other video i found on how to do this wasnt as in depth or as caring as yours so thanks for that, i actually understand the concept now
This is great, thanks so much. 2 questions: • Would it be a good idea to get some plastic screening to cover the holes on the bottom to keep dirt from leaching into the resevoir? • Would food grade plastic would keep nasty chems from leaching into the soil, or is it not really an issue? thanks
Hello! Have not had issues with soil washing down, but you can always take out the top bucket and clean the bottom if needed. I have since started making these systems out of food grade buckets, just to be safe. Happy growing!
Most people say you should use FOOD SAFE buckets, because the ones like you have are made from recycled plastic that could have any kind of contaminants in it, which can leach into the soil and end up in the plants, and ultimately in whoever eats the plants.
Thumbs up for the idea. Just wondering, why not use single bucket with rocks or similar material on the bottom for drainage but with same overflow hole, little cup in the center etc.? Two bucket is definitely cleaner system, but there is the cost of buckets - unless you are getting from a local restaurant for free?
Will the dirt in the top bucket leach down through the swiss cheese holes? Would a thin weed (but not moisture) barrier over the small holes help hold the dirt in the top bucket or would it defeat the whole purpose?
Mayola Mayola wire held up well, but it didn’t have enough support at the top. I have found that they work really well for strawberries and peppers; not so well for tomatoes.
(1) thank you for such an easy to follow video, really enjoyed it and will start on my bucket garden this weekend. (2) This has nothing to do with your instructions, and it is not something that I typically mention but you are incredibly attractive. You should think about modeling. Keep up the great work with the videos some of the others are so confusing or they don't show all the steps.
Hey CJ, yea, we are still getting the hang of making the instructional videos as clear as possible; glad you enjoyed this one. Thank you for your kind words, if this farming thing doesn't work out, maybe I will give modeling a try :D Thanks for watching!
you could use liquid fertilizer or dissolved granular fertilizer and water from top once a week you could mix granular fertilizer with the soil as well is about a handful for a 5 gallon
What kind of dirt is best for these? Also any good ideas to keep them from tipping? I just made 15 of these for my ten year old son. He has an itchy green thumb. Thanks for the idea. Last year he planted in the ground, but was constantly watering I could not get him to understand when to stop. These will help him and my water bill immensely. Thanks again
Very cool and also very detailed information. Thanks. Can you skip the pvc pipe? To fill the reservoir let gravity do it by watering the top. I’ll try both ways and see. Thanks again
Jose Rogriguez the only problem with watering the soil is you will wash soil nutrients down, and potentially out the overflow. Other than that, not much difference I think.
My original post should be disregarded, one bucket systems, similar to this require a pocket of air, the setup in this video would get air from it drying from the top down, so don't keep the res full, let it cycle.
