What pot sizes?

[Chocolate8me]

Some of my veg has gone into my raised bed but all the others are in pots or going in pots.

The big question is what are the appropriate sized pots that are needed for the likes of Sweet Pepper (Californian Wonder), Chillis, Sprouts, Kale (not enough room in the raised bed), brocolli (again lack of room) and Courgettes?

I went to Morrisons for their flower buckets but they now use their own 'in situ' pots on the flower stand I've got my tomato plants in 35cm pots that I bought for £1.50 each so fingers crossed they are adequate.

[Pa Snips]

Well I was going to suggest Morrisons flower buckets but you've scuppered that one!

[Chocolate8me]

After the advice on here to go get some, I was thoroughly disappointed when I arrived there and saw their custom made flower stand. How dare they!!

[Pa Snips]

That is frustrating isn't it?

My latest batch were bigger than the previous ones and I only really needed six, so was going to buy just one stack of eight, but ended up buying two stacks. You just can't have too many MFB's.
Later on I showed them to my bro' and he asked if they had any left, I said that there was just one stack of eight left and he quickly drove over there and bagged them.
It's amazing how excitable one can become about a bit of injection moulded plastic.

[veggiechicken]

My local Morrisons told me that they own the company that makes the MFBs. He said it was best to look for them at the end of the weekend as that is when they sell most flowers. He also said that they bin all the ones they don't sell

[Chocolate8me]

Pa, I could quite easy go out & buy builders buckets but the principle of getting (or blagging) something for free is priceless... No pun intended

Veggie Chicken my local Morrisons don't use them anymore on their flower stand, must be cost-cutting. What size were they & what else do you use them for apart from Toms?

[veggiechicken]

Try a local florist, Choccy, sometimes they're glad to get rid of them. Or ask at the other supermarkets - they all have different policies - some give them away. You just need an amenable manager!

[Florence Fennel]

I've never had them from Morrisons (our local branch charge for them), I get them free from ASDA. Tesco's flower buckets would be brilliant to plant in (they're square) but they recycle.

[woody21]

I've never had them from Morrisons (our local branch charge for them), I get them free from ASDA. Tesco's flower buckets would be brilliant to plant in (they're square) but they recycle.

If you get chatting to staff in the smaller express stores you might be able to get the odd one here and there, they do indeed recycle them or reuse them but they can put one or 2 a week down as breakages.
the express stores get less buckets but probably a lot less requests for them, im the first to ask in ours in all the years its been here.

my brother gets them for me from the store he works at with the managers permission and my local store is going to keep a few aside for me and all i had to do was ask.
i did get a funny look at first, but once i said what i wanted them for it got a smile.

so nice they have holes/handles to make them easy to move around.... well worth asking at a quiet time especially later in the evening when you might see the odd empty one on the floor.

if they do say no ask them to keep back any that get damaged and leak water they throw those away at the stores.

[Florence Fennel]

That's interesting Woody, I got a point blank refusal when I asked a manager. Might go in on the softly softly approach next time.

[woody21]

That's interesting Woody, I got a point blank refusal when I asked a manager. Might go in on the softly softly approach next time.

worth asking again, they hold 15 litres so well worth getting if at all possible.

damaged ones would be mostly useable, a split or cracked corner doesnt matter to us as long as the pots still solid. Big holes could be fixed with a chunk of totally smashed pot and some hot glue.

another thing that works is keep asking till they give in..... or ban ya from the shop! lol
Being a pain in the bum works more often than you might think if you do it with a cheeky smile

[Thelma Sanders]

I was told I could take empty ones from the stand outside the co op

[jacob]

The big question is what are the appropriate sized pots that are needed for the likes of Sweet Pepper (Californian Wonder), Chillis, Sprouts, Kale (not enough room in the raised bed), brocolli (again lack of room) and Courgettes?

Not sure about this flower bucket stuff, but
Peppers: 10"+ pots
Chilis: 8"-10" pots
Kale: 10" pots (I've never deliberately grown kale in pots, but it's looked OK left hanging out in 4" onces)
Courgettes: as big as you can find and they'll still gobble all the nutrients.

Not so sure about sprouts and brocolli -- quite big ones, I'd think.

[Andromeda]

I've grown brocolli in large pots before (pre allotment) and they did well as long as I fed and watered regularly, I think they were about 12"x12" square pots.

Do you have poundland or pund shop near you? They had some large plastic pots the last time I was in there (it's where I got some new pots for toms). You'll need to put holes in them (the shape of them is already indented) but a stanley knife does the job easily enough.

[Chocolate8me]

Thank you Jacob & Andromeda.

I don't want to sufficate the plants but I don't want to waste money on large pots if I don't have to. Fingers crossed I will get some flower buckets from Asda on Monday.