Another covid-19 quarantine project: a way to use up all of those empty coconut oil pails. I must have about 40 of them stacked up in the basement. I decided to take out my raised garden beds because the trees have grown so big the beds are too shady now to grow tomatoes. Also, watering is my least favorite thing to do, even in the raised bed. So I've been watching Youtube videos and am ready to start turning these buckets into planters that I can move to where the sun is.
You need two 50 lb buckets for each planter, a 1.25" diameter pvc pipe that's 2 1/2 ft long and has one end cut at a slant, a power drill with a 1/2" drill bit, a 1.5" hole cutter drill bit, and a 3" hole cutter drill bit, an x-acto knife, and a plastic Solo Cup or container of a similar size. You drill a 3" hole in the center of the bottom of one bucket, and a 1.5" hole as close to one side of the bottom of that bucket as you can get. Put that bucket into another one and hold them up to the light. See where the bottom of the inner bucket comes to, measure about 1 inch below that and drill a 1/2" drainage hole through the side of the bottom bucket at that point. That keeps the bottom bucket from getting too full of water and drowning the plant roots and causing root rot.
Insert the pvc pipe through the smaller hole in the inner bucket, slanted end down (that allows water to flow through without getting blocked). Take a plastic cup or yogurt container and drill some random holes in the bottom and carefully cut some verticle slits around the sides, without cutting all the way up through the rim. Push that cup down through the center hole so it fills the hole. It should leak water but not let dirt fall through.
Now you're ready for the soil - everybody seems to recommend a mixture of compost, peat moss, perlite or vermiculite, and some granular fertilizer. Plant your plant. Now pour water down the pvc pipe until some water starts coming out of the drainage hole. The soil in the Solo cup acts as a wick that pulls water up into the rest of the soil and your plant's roots will be able to use as much as they need. I've seen versions where you drop a thin lightweight stick or something into the tube so that it floats on the water in the tube - when the stick goes down, you know you need to add more water to the tube.
This is the theory anyway. ;-) I'm going to try to get one made tonight. Has anybody else made one of these? Did it work? There are other designs, some more complicated and some even simpler but I like this one because it uses two buckets and that will empty out my basement faster! They would make a nice gift for anyone who has limited gardening space.
You need two 50 lb buckets for each planter, a 1.25" diameter pvc pipe that's 2 1/2 ft long and has one end cut at a slant, a power drill with a 1/2" drill bit, a 1.5" hole cutter drill bit, and a 3" hole cutter drill bit, an x-acto knife, and a plastic Solo Cup or container of a similar size. You drill a 3" hole in the center of the bottom of one bucket, and a 1.5" hole as close to one side of the bottom of that bucket as you can get. Put that bucket into another one and hold them up to the light. See where the bottom of the inner bucket comes to, measure about 1 inch below that and drill a 1/2" drainage hole through the side of the bottom bucket at that point. That keeps the bottom bucket from getting too full of water and drowning the plant roots and causing root rot.
Insert the pvc pipe through the smaller hole in the inner bucket, slanted end down (that allows water to flow through without getting blocked). Take a plastic cup or yogurt container and drill some random holes in the bottom and carefully cut some verticle slits around the sides, without cutting all the way up through the rim. Push that cup down through the center hole so it fills the hole. It should leak water but not let dirt fall through.
Now you're ready for the soil - everybody seems to recommend a mixture of compost, peat moss, perlite or vermiculite, and some granular fertilizer. Plant your plant. Now pour water down the pvc pipe until some water starts coming out of the drainage hole. The soil in the Solo cup acts as a wick that pulls water up into the rest of the soil and your plant's roots will be able to use as much as they need. I've seen versions where you drop a thin lightweight stick or something into the tube so that it floats on the water in the tube - when the stick goes down, you know you need to add more water to the tube.
This is the theory anyway. ;-) I'm going to try to get one made tonight. Has anybody else made one of these? Did it work? There are other designs, some more complicated and some even simpler but I like this one because it uses two buckets and that will empty out my basement faster! They would make a nice gift for anyone who has limited gardening space.
) to the top bucket, thread that strip through the cup and make the strip long enough to reach the bottom of the bottom bucket - this will help keep your cup soil moist so the system will start up again when you add enough water - the cotton will rot in about 3 years, so cycle in a new piece each time you re-do your planting
