Using 5 Gallon Buckets in a Container Garden

We've noticed that our container gardening blogs are a big hit with you guys. Which is great! Container gardens are an easy way to break into gardening or to be able to maintain a garden with a busy schedule. When you have a container garden your work is cut nearly in half (if not more so) as it is easier to keep your plants healthy by keeping weeds at bay and being able to more easily amend the soil. Bucket Outlet featured a blog recently on how to use 5 gallon buckets in your garden and we thought we would share it here as well:

Vegetable gardening can seem like a huge chore to undertake, but if you create a container garden for your vegetables, you can maintain your plants much easier. All you need are some 5 gallon buckets. If you want to mix things up a little, you can also use galvanized tubs or even camouflage buckets. If you have some plants that don't need as much space, you can add smaller plastic buckets to the mix for a stepping stone effect to your container garden.

First step is to prep your buckets:
Be sure that your bucket is either new, or if it is a recycled bucket that it was never used to hold any type of chemical since you will be growing foods for consumption in them.
Using a drill, make drainage holes in the bottom of your bucket, they should be about 5/8". You will need about 10 or so holes for good drainage.
To keep the holes from getting stopped up with soil, add about 1-2" of gravel to the bottom of you bucket.
Fill with a good potting soil, fill to within 1.5" from the top of the bucket.

Plant your Vegetables:
Choose your vegetables that you want to plant, be sure you read how much space each plant needs, how much sun, and water.
Plant your plants according to their needs. Try not to plant too close to the sides of the bucket or you risk your plants getting too hot. Keep them at least 1.75" from the edge of the bucket.
If you have plants that are small enough to plant near one another, keep in mind which plants make good companions to each other.
Place your buckets in your yard for the best sunlight, and easy access for watering. You will need to check container plants daily for whether they need water or not as container plants tend to dry out more quickly.

Be sure to harvest fruits and vegetables as they ripen, this will help your plants continue to produce throughout the season.

We hope this information helps you in getting started on your very own container garden! If you have tips or questions don't hesitate to leave them for us in the comments. 

Collection of Companion Planting Guides

Since the beginning of our gardening blog, we have created a large collection of companion planting guides on various vegetable and fruit plants. To help you filter through all of our blogs to find them we are listing them all here with links to the articles:

1. Allium Companion Planting
2. Bean Companion Planting
3. Beet Companion Planting
4. Borage Companion Planting
5. Carrot Companion Planting
6. Cucumber Companion Planting
7. Geranium Companion Planting
8. Lettuce Companion Planting
9. Marigold Companion Planting
10. More Bean Companion Planting 
11. Onion Companion Planting
12. Pea Companion Planting
13. Pepper, Hot Companion Planting
14. Pepper, Sweet Companion Planting
15. Squash and Zucchini Companion Planting
16. Tomato Companion Planting
17. Brassica Companion Planting 
18. Potato Companion Planting 
19. Radish Companion Planting 
20. Corn Companion Planting 
21. Sunflower Companion Planting
22. Strawberry Companion Planting
23. Grape Companion Planting
24. More Tomato Companion Planting

We hope this companion planting information helps you to have a successful garden this year.

Using a Broadcast Spreader

There are a few advantages to using a broadcast spreader over a drop spreader, especially if you have a larger yard or area that you are working with. The broadcast spreader has a larger area that it spreads over vs. a drop spreader, so it will cut the time you spend spreading down.

If you are using your broadcast spreader for spreading grass seed you will find that it works much better for certain grasses than a drop spreader does. With the drop spreader some grasses will grow in streaks instead of throughout the entire yard.

There are a variety of these types of spreader on the market, many are push spreaders, but if you have a very large area to cover you may want to look into investing in an ATV spreader.

To use your broadcast spreader you will first want to read your instructions thoroughly. As well as the instructions on the fertilizer or seed that you are spreading. The seed/fertilizer should have instructions on them for the recommended speed rate.

It is advised to do a test run with a small amount of your seed or fertilizer on a clean sidewalk or driveway so that you can ensure that you have the correct settings. You will want to make a note of how far the spreader distributes on different settings and write it down for future reference. Be sure to make note of how much product you put into the spreader and how large of an area it covered. Then compare this to how much coverage the product packaging states that you should have. If it doesn't cover enough area or covers too much then you will need to readjust your settings.

Collect your product so that you can reuse it. Do not just sweep or spray off into the yard.

Now you can fill up your spreader with the recommended amount of seed or fertilizer for the area that you need to cover. You will want to walk in a pattern that allows you enough space to only cover about 6 inches of the same area, this is okay to do since the outer edges of your spraying will receive less material. Usually the best pattern to spread in will be a row pattern.

Have more tips on using a broadcast spreader? Please share them with us in the comments.

Preventing Diseases in Your Garden

The weather is warm and the dirt is waiting to be planted and tended for your garden. Excitement is in the air as you dream about the harvest you will have this coming fall. Make sure your harvest is not hindered by plant diseases. Take these precautions to help prevent diseases from forming in your garden:

Using Cured Compost will help your plants to be stronger, a stronger plant will be able to resist diseases more easily. Don't know how to cure your compost? Follow these easy steps:

To begin the curing process stop adding organic material to your compost heap.
Turn your pile once a week to allow oxygen to permeate the materials in your compost.
Wet your compost until it is the consistency of a wet sponge.
After 3 months your compost should be ready. If there are still large particles in your pile it needs to go through the curing process again.

Keep your garden watered during droughts. A weak plant will succumb to diseases more easily.

Space your plants wide and use trellises for plants that like to spread out. This will allow air to get around the leaves and dry your plants well, a continually wet plant is a breeding ground for diseases.

Use mulch to keep any soil born diseases from splashing up onto the leaves of your plants.

If a fungal outbreak begins on your plants you can slow it by using garden shears to cut off affected leaves, branches, and/or fruits. Only cut the plant if the foliage is dry, a wet plant will cause the spores to spread more quickly. There are also sprays that you can create to help kill the fungus. There are several for each different variety of fungus, if you have plants with hairy leaves you can use a mixture of 1 tsp baking soda to a quart of water and some drops of liquid soap as a spray mix.

A great sprayer for applying necessary treatments to sick plants or to spray on preventative treatments are the Solo sprayers.

Garden Tasks as we Head into April

With all the snow we've been having lately it is hard to believe that we are already six days into spring. If you are still having snow these tasks may have to wait until the ground warms up a bit for you, but we wanted to go ahead and share this information with you.

Plant your leaf lettuce: keep in mind that they need 6 to 8 hours of sunlight a day.

Inside you will want to start your leeks: remember to plant one starter container for every leek you want to grow.

Also it is time to start your tomatoes inside: plant one starter container for every 10 to 12 lbs of tomatoes that you want. Also don't forget to invest in tomato rings and cages for when you plant them in your garden.

Plant green onions: your onions will need 6 to 8 hours of sunlight a day.

Plant carrots: they need 6 to 8 hours of sunlight a day.

Sow your hardy annuals such as wild flowers.

Repot any indoor plants that are starting to look tired. This is usually a sign that they need fresh dirt and a larger pot.

Time to plant fruit trees or wait until next year to do so.

How to Prepare your Garden's Soil

To have a garden that grows well you have to have good soil so that the plants can thrive. Good soil has the nutrients that your plants need to grow and form beautiful fruits and vegetables.

To know what kind of soil you are working with you will want to have your soil tested. Your local County Cooperative Extension office should be able to supply you with information on soil testing in your area. Your soil sample will be sent to a laboratory and they will send you results that let you know what nutrients your soil needs and give advice on what steps should be taken in order to remedy this.

When you are adding nutrients to your soil after the soil test, you will only want to add nutrients that the test has deemed are needed. Adding things that are not needed can throw off the pH of your soil.

Fertilizer is also a needed additive to your soil, especially if you are growing a vegetable garden. Fertilizer will help your plants to produce much better fruits. There are many options in fertilizer in the categories of inorganic and organic.

If you want to fertilize your garden organically, one of the best ways is to create and use your own compost. For more information on composting check out these previous blogs:

Composting

Do NOT Compost These Items

Over 70 Things for the Compost Pile

Other organic fertilizers you can use in your soil are kelp, dried blood, cottonseed meal, cattle manure, horse manure, and chicken manure.

When using an inorganic fertilizer over a large area then you may want to look into using a broadcast spreader. This will help you even distribute the fertilizer over a large area.

During the growing season you may want to apply a side dressing (a boost of fertilizer) so that your plants continue to get the needed nutrients they need. To apply a side dressing you will want to make a 4 inch deep trench along one side of your plant row. Do not disturb the roots of the plants when you do this. Place your fertilizer into the 4 inch trench and cover it up with the removed soil. Watering your plants and rain will work your fertilizer into the soil so that it is easily used by your plants.

March Gardening Tasks

Spring will be upon us soon, what are somethings that you can be doing to help your garden?

Get out your gardening tools and be sure they are cleaned up and repaired if repairs need to be made.

Start indoor transplants of tomatoes, lettuce, eggplants, parsley, peppers, and other vegetables.

Turn your compost pile. (really this should be done weekly)

Start putting out your birdhouses. 

Fertilize shrubs and trees.

Prune fruit trees before the buds swell.

Start preparing the soil for your vegetable garden.

Peas, sweet peas, asparagus, rhubarb, artichokes, strawberries, blueberries, fruit trees, and horse radish can begin to be planted now.

Repair damaged areas of your lawn.