I will be using about 15 five gallon buckets up on the deck this year for container gardening, what is the best way to water these? I can think of 3 different ways

Water the surface with a water can/hose

Insert a pipe with holes the entire depth and pour water in there and hopefully have it disperse throughout

Pull water from the bottom (sit it over a gutter and have a net pot in the water that draws up into container)

This will be my first time gardening or growing anything so any and all advice is most welcomed. I can't plant til the end of May trying to prepare now

This is a great start my friend:) Lets go over some options you brought up then I will tell you what I would do.

This one will be the easiest but you can easily over water and there will be no way for the water to drain out. With container gardening one of the biggest issues is over or under watering is a problem. the water only needs to reach the roots, not the bottom of the bucket so I like this option.


Waste of time because you really only need to have the water reach the roots. Drainage will still be an issue here as well:(

My buddy Larry come up with a rain gutter system that seems to work really well for people but you need to be handy and I would make sure to water from the top if you are planting seeds tell they are strong and send down there roots:) You can also use a cotton towel to draw water up into the soil. Just make a hole that you can put the towel from the bottom of the bucket and let it hang in the water of the gutter. The cotton will draw the water all the way up the towel to the top of your buckets:)

Here is a video he did!



What I would do:

I would drill drainage holes in the bottoms of the buckets, put about 1" of gravel in the bottom of the bucket (to help with drainage) and set up a drip system with a timer. That way you will get water right to the roots of your plants and not have to worry about over watering because you have holes.

thats the same guy I got that idea from lol. I will have to look into this drip irrigation and if it can be done off a rainbarrel and not a house spigot (they chlorine our water here)

moirakris wrote:
Yeah this guy had a good idea!
You can definitely do it with rain barrels just make sure that the rain barrel is higher up than the drip lines:)

The wicking type 5gal. planter is something we are trying new this year. I'm thinking it will be the most efficient w/ plants that desire steady moisture and can tolerate wet feet. You may also want to consider a small olla if a drip system is too much cost or work. I know I like to stay as cheap as possible. I'm using half gallon milk jugs w/ small holes in the bottom buried a few inches in the bucket in my containers that aren't the wicking type. The water goes in once and you control how fast it's dispersed by the size of the holes. You could also leave the cap on to conserve moisture if that's an issue, just put a small hole in the top to prevent a vacuum.

Good stuff CaseyL:) You can also have smaller pieces of cloth that will wick less water but your going to need to find that "sweet spot".

CaseyL is right on the money. Small hole will prevent a vacuum so the water does not stop:) You can put the cap on loosely as well.

Hope that helps and thank you CaseyL for helping a member!

Matt

Matt covered most of the critical issues on watering in 5 gallon buckets but I would like to add a couple of thoughts. Water in the morning or early afternoon. If the leaves are wet when the evening cools down, there is a chance for several leaf diseases to take hold.

5 gallon buckets are a good size for things like tomatoes, peppers, and perhaps vines like cucumbers and melons that might need to be staked. They provide a good depth for root zones and enough diameter to not crowd the root ball. But they can be heavy and difficult to move if necessary. Many smaller plants including bush beans and tomatoes might do just as well in 3 gallon pots without all of the weight and the extra 2 gallons of potting soil.

Although it is too late for this year, a plastic or metal garbage can can be a good place to grow potatoes too.

Thanks for the extra info Bobin:) Really helpful!

Thanks for all the extra tips and ideas!! I am about a week away from planting here in MI and getting excited (we usually can't plant around these parts until Memorial Day)

Awesome:) If you get a chance try Green Zebra tomatoes! They taste so good!!