Container ideas...

[redlandrover90]

Hi all,

I'm just looking into what to plant and where to plant it next year.

As we're renting a house at the moment with a huge patio and now I've got my greenhouse up I thought growing everything in containers would be ok. This got me thinking, and I wondered whether anyone had any ideas for large, cheap, plastic containers that are ok for growing things like carrots in.

I thought a couple of plasterers baths with holes drilled in the botom for drainage would be ideal as a deep (ish) containers where I could grow things in rows (don't ask me why but I like the idea of growing in rows).

Does anyone think this is a bad idea??? Can anyone forsee any problems???

Obviously the baths would be new and I've found a company on ebay that does them for £15 and they're in green!!! I think thats pretty good for the size of container.

Any thoughts would be welcome.

Cheers

[Demeter]

What a great idea!
Many people get flower buckets from the supermarkets, I must admit I have not yet plucked up the courage to ask in my local Asda. I tend to rely on buckets (99p from B&Q or £1.99 from the GC) with drainage holes added, or 26l tub trugs. We also have - and I admit this isn't very elegant, but they did have drainage in the form of existing holes!! - a set of drawers from a filing cabinet that are maybe 15" by 20" or thereabouts. Someone here (search for "coffin" and you'll find it!) managed to source some wooden packaging troughs used for transporting heavy machinery. If you want something a bit more elegant, try freecycle!

PS some garden centres e.g. Wyevale have "pot recycling" facilities where you can go and help yourself to pots other people have decided they don't want. Admittedly they tend to be smaller pots, but sometimes you will find larger sizes, more for single plants though than anything else.

[maytreefrannie]

Love your ideas - I've never heard of plasterers baths but I'm going to look them up.

[Alice]

The plasterers baths should work well Redlandrover . Also have a look round supermarket car parks and the roads around them. I've picked up a few discarded bread crates (the plastic crates they deliver things in). Lined with porous membrane and filled with compost they're great for growing in. Also B&Q buckets for 99p are good for growing potatoes.

[redlandrover90]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I'm going to give the plasterers baths a whirl and see how we go. I've got a few pots lined up already but like the idea of bigger containers.

Thanks for the tips. Love the bread tray idea, I'll keep my eyes peeled, although I reckon you'd have to be careful as those trays sometimes have 'the property of (the baker)' written on the side!!!

Thanks once again.

[Two_Sheds]

Whatever container you choose, it will need copious watering on hot days.
Always use a saucer thing underneath to conserve as much water as you can. Might be a challenge on a plasterer's bath?

[Two_Sheds]

Love your ideas - I've never heard of plasterers baths but I'm going to look them up.

me neither - here's one I googled: Plasterers Bath 4ft x 2ft x 1ft - FAIBATH - - BExpress.co.uk - Fast UK Delivery

[plantsbypost.com]

Morning, hope everybodies still in one piece after last nights wind!

The plasterers bath is a great idea, especially for salads.

Take a look at these as well though, i think the top one is great and we are going to stock it on our website soon.

Build your own raised bed

Linkabord - The Revolution in Gardening is Here!

You can take them with you if you move as well.

Regards

Neil

[lynda66]

how about baby baths not much different in size from the plasterers bath, and you can probably pick em up from a car boot for a couple of quid. ..... and they come in pretty colours with a drain hole already in.

[redlandrover90]

Great idea about the baby baths and you're right, its the sort of thing you can pick up at car boot sales. Although I'm not sure about the pretty colours bit!!!! Baby blue, pink.... no thanks!!!

I like the look of the linkabord stuff but unfortunately its a bit pricey for me. I'm trying to spend as little as possible in order to start with.

Thanks for the replies and keep em coming, its all useful stuff

[lynda66]

ok i'd rather go for black too lol, but i have got a green one for my ducks and they do make white ones ...... maybe you could paint it with tile paint or something ??

just £15 plus postage seems a lot for putting a few plants in.

[lynda66]

how about plastic storage tubs? they make some big ones and lots cheaper.

[zazen999]

i had the same challenge in the last house. I ended up buying storage containers from all sorts of places - the cheapest i found were black ones in Tesco at 99p each. They are about a foot deep, a foot wide and a foot and a half long. Carrots were fine, but I'd mesh them for carrot fly. When we moved, the containers came with me, still full of compost and all the crops still in them. These included potatoes! With these containers, you'd need about 6 for the same volume as the plasterer's bath, and it would cost half the price.

Are you on freecycle, there's often lots of people with plastic containers that are just taking up space, maybe there might be a plasterer's bath on there?

I'm quite handy with the diy - so if I had to do it again, i'd make up some small deep wooden beds with wood from a reclaim yard, and take them with me when I moved. it's only root veg that need really deep beds, most other things can survive with shallower sides. Or even wood from a few pallets [free] - they take a bit of battering to prise the wood apart, but for free - they're a bit of a godsend.

Is there a part of the garden that is put over to beds at all - you could grow onions and leeks in amongst the flowers.

Essentially, i'd use freecyle to get as many free containers as possible, and see what I needed after that to bulk it up, make some up using pallets or cheap wood, and only buy stuff after all else failed. I grew tomatoes and onions together one year in old trays that had been used in my darkroom...they were about 4 inches deep but about 3ft x 2ft wide and needed alot of staking - but still got toms for ages off them.

[Bren In Pots]

I grow my parsnips in a builders tub, it looks a lot deeper than the plasterers bath.

[Kayt]

[QUOTE=Demeter;307385]What a great idea!
Many people get flower buckets from the supermarkets, I must admit I have not yet plucked up the courage to ask in my local Asda. QUOTE]

I've found 2 local Co-Op stores that give their black flower buckets away and Morrison sell them 8 for 99p. Also, what about the black dustbins that seem to be surplus these days now that councils have gone to wheelie bin collections? There must be some way of using those.