[Scpg] bucket gardening

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

The Bucket Garden
	An apartment gardener, living many stories above the ground,
can raise enough food on the edge of a 30' balcony to equal the
produce from a 6' X 20' country garden. The setup costs little more
than the price of the seeds, doesn't drip or damage the decking, and
can be tended in the little time left at the end of a long work day
Hard to believe maybe, but its been proven.

Container Gardening:
	The obvious alternative to hauling numerous loads of soil
and lumber up to an apartment, perhaps many stories high, is to grow
crops in containers. This option presents two notable problems:
drainage and weight.	It's important to avoid using any kind of
open drainage system at the base of balcony plant boxes because of
the mess and the possible rotting of the deck floor, to say nothing
of complaints from neighbors below! Also, hot-weather wilt is a
major drawback to gardening in drained containers. At temperatures
above 95¡ large plants in these vessels, though thoroughly watered
in the morning, can be severely dehydrated by mid-afternoon vessels
with no drainage, on the other hand, can hold water in reserve that
will carry the plant over a two- or three-day period, which allows
the owner to leave for a weekend and find the garden still thriving
upon his or her return. 	For containers without drain holes,
a special planting medium is needed: something sponge-like to hold
water so that it doesn't pool in the bottom of the planter, drowning
the roots. This problem occurs routinely in drain-less containers
filled with soil as the only medium. Even good soil is heavy, and in
pots or planters it usually settles and hardens into a brick mass
that discourages root growth. The perfect nutrient system (soft,
lightweight, and inexpensive) is a mass of leaves. And as these
naturally occurring premixed packages of trace minerals and plant
residue decay, they support a variety of microorganisms essential to
plant growth and health. The gardener needs only to add water,
fertilizer, and seed. Nature does the rest! Besides, leaves are free
for the raking from parks and lots all over the city. In many
neighborhoods, they're bagged and sitting by the roadside, waiting
to be carted away. Leaves at Work:
	To set up a bucket garden that will be roughly equal to a 6'
X 20' plot, you'll need a large load of fallen leaves, four gallons
of potting soil mix, about 20 nonmetallic light-colored, drain-less
containers (plastic paint cans, Polystyrene foam coolers, trash
cans, baby baths, or wooden boxes, buckets, or tubs), a water
source, and a variety of seeds Try one package each of tomatoes
carrots, squash radishes lettuce, pole beans, a cole such as
cauliflower or broccoli, and two packages of snow peas. Climate and
season may dictate starting seeds indoors and later transplanting
the seedlings to outdoor planters. Egg cartons or shallow, plastic-
lined cardboard boxes can serve nicely as seed flats. If indoor
space and light are inadequate for such flats, consider purchasing
nursery-started plants for some or all of the crops. 	Select a
sheltered space that receives at least three hours of direct sun
each day Then fill the assorted containers with well-packed leaves,
water them (using 1/4 gallon of water per gallon of container
volume), and repack with leaves as needed. Add a commercial
fertilizer, fish emulsion, or packaged cow manure in amounts
appropriate to the size of the container. 	Cover the surface of
the packed leaf layer in each container with three inches of potting
soil or humus. Plant most of the buckets with a variety of
vegetables and flowers, and make two other "quick crop" containers
for fast-growing vegetables such as lettuce, radishes, and peas.
Keep soil surfaces slightly damp until the young plants grow to be
about five inches tall. Tending the Bountiful Bucketfuls:
	To help determine moisture requirements as plants become
established, insert a pointed wooden stick in each container and
leave it there. When the stake is dark and wetly glistening from one
to four inches above the soil, moisture conditions are perfect. If
drippiness occurs along the stick as far as five inches above the
soil's surface, excess water is present and must be poured out.
Dried-out, whitish patches on the stake indicate a need for water.
(A rule of thumb: Full-grown plants require about a gallon of water
per container every other day)
Because a bucket garden has a limited amount of soil from which to
draw nutrients, fertilize vegetables and flowers as heavily as
possible. If green leaves wilt or shrivel, the plant food is too
concentrated. If older leaves turn pale or yellow and if growth
slows down, more nitrogen is needed.
High-rise horticulturists seldom have serious garden infestation
problems.
Nematodes and cutworms are precluded because of the use of dried
leaves and sterile potting mixtures, and any insects that do appear
are usually predatory and pollinating types attracted by the
fragrant flowers, dense cover, and colorful variety.  When bucket
plants grow to tour or five inches tall, thin a single container
contents to three of the healthiest bean plants, three of the best
peas, and two of the most vigorous tomatoes. When tomatoes reach ten
inches height, thin them to one per container. Most plants can be
allowed to grow naturally; only those that intrude on a deck's or
balcony's walking space need staking.
As quick-growing crops reach maturity and are harvested, replant the
container. By successive planting, you can harvest fresh produce
throughout the growing season and achieve high yields. From a five-
gallon plastic paint bucket, you might expect, for example, several
bowls of leaf lettuce, two heads of lettuce, 35 snow peas, 20 pole
beans, four radishes, 25 tomatoes, and two carrots!

 >From Mother Earth News "Living on Less; An Authoritative Guide to
Affordable Food Fuel, and Shelter"





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