Bucket gardening is one of the easiest and most reliable type of gardening. There are tons of people who don’t have their own homes and are living in rented apartments. For those people, bucket gardening is great, because they can easily pick their garden and change the location whenever they have to move from one apartment to another.
Here in this post, I will explain how to grow in buckets and what to grow in buckets but first, watch the interview of this couple who build a movable garden. This interview is a big encouragement for people who have a space problem and need to move after a year or two.
How To Grow Vegetables In Buckets
Follow these steps to grow your favorite vegetables in buckets. A tip: Only grow vegetables that you like and love to eat, do not waste your time, money, and bucket on vegetables that you don’t even want to eat.
Collect Some Buckets
For a bucket garden, you will need 5-gallon buckets and a few 10-gallon buckets. You can find them from a local home improvement store and from restaurant food suppliers.
Remember, do not use buckets that were filled with toxic chemicals to grow vegetables. You can still use those buckets to grow ornament plants in them but not edible plants. You can also buy clean 5 gallons or 10-gallon buckets from Amazon.
Make Some Good Soil
This is a very important step for a container garden. You cannot use your garden soil or topsoil to grow vegetables in them. This kind of soil is very compact and it can stop the growth of roots.
Even if your soil is very fertile, you should add some compost and peat moss in it to make it more suitable for plants. The best soil for a container garden is potting soil. It is not heavy, has great drainage, and a good number of nutrients.
You can learn to make your own potting soil at home or you can buy potting soil from Amazon by clicking here. Either way, you will need potting soil.
Important Steps Before Planting
Drill some holes at the bottom of buckets. Add a layer of pebbles at the bottom for drainage. Paint your buckets to give them a good fresh look. You will already have some great ideas for painting according to your need.
Plant In Buckets
You can sow seeds in the potting soil of buckets or plant seedlings. Both will work fine. After planting or sowing, give them water and put them in the location according to the need of plants.
This is the beauty of a bucket garden, you can change the location whenever you want. Some crops love sunlight and some like shade. You have to figure it out.
Fertilize Your Plants In Buckets
Plants in containers always need some extra fertilizer to produce more and more. You can use organic compost as fertilizer. Click here to learn to make your own organic compost at home with kitchen and garden waste.
You can also use organic manure or organic plant foods. Check this all-purpose plant food for your bucket garden on Amazon.
Watering In Buckets
Watering is the factor that depends on so many different things like weather, crop or stages of crops. There is no exact amount of water that works for everyone. You have to learn this trick on your own.
I always check the moisture level of the top 2 inches of soil. If it feels dry, I give water to my plants. Plants in buckets will need some extra water but do not over-water them.
30 Vegetables To Grow In Buckets
1: Tomatoes
Tomatoes are gardener’s favorite. They all love to grow them and eat them. We use so many tomatoes on a daily basis in our kitchen. We should all grow them organically. There are so many varieties of tomatoes available in the market.
You should grow bush varieties in buckets. For a single tomato plant, one 5 gallon bucket will be needed. You should also provide a cage for your tomato plants. Tomato plants require 6-8 hours of sunlight, so pick a very sunny location for your buckets of tomatoes.
Also Read: How To Grow Beefsteak Tomatoes In Pots
2: Beans
There are two different varieties of beans popular in the market. Bush varieties and vine varieties. You can grow both of them but the bush is more suitable for buckets. This variety does not need a huge space to grow.
You can also grow vine varieties of beans in buckets. But you have to give them trellis for support. You can harvest your beans in just 50-60 days after planting.
Also Read: How To Grow Beans In A Raised Bed Garden
3: Carrots
You can grow tons of carrots in buckets. Small varieties of carrots are very suitable. In a 5 gallon bucket, you can grow 20-25 carrots. Sow the seeds of carrots directly in the potting soil of your buckets.
Give them water and watch them grow. You can harvest your carrots in 65-80 days but you don’t have to wait that long, leaves of carrots are edible too. Add some leaves of carrots to your salad.
4: Ginger
You don’t have to buy the seedlings or seeds of ginger from stores. You can easily regrow store-bought ginger in your buckets. Just pick some good and healthy-looking rhizome of ginger, split it into pieces, and plant them in the soil. Give them water and watch them grow. Learn the full method to grow ginger at home.
5: Onion
Onion is a superfood and growing onion is also super easy. You can start growing onions in buckets from seeds or seedlings. I suggest you grow them from seedlings at first.
Plants of onions require 6-7 hours of direct sunlight to grow. Make some space between each plant of onion. At least 3-4 inches of space between each plant is enough.
6: Peppers
You can grow sweet peppers or hot peppers in your buckets. You can buy seedlings from a plant store to grow peppers or start your seeds at home. You don’t need to buy seeds, just pick some healthy and fully ripened peppers from store-bought peppers.
Open them and collect seeds from those healthy peppers. Sow them directly in the potting soil of buckets or sow them in a seed tray. Both methods will work great. Learn how to grow peppers properly at home.
7: Cherry Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes are excellent for bucket gardeners. There are so many varieties of cherry tomatoes available. Buy seedlings or seeds or grow them from kitchen scraps.
Cut some slices of cherry tomatoes and put them in potting soil. Seeds in slices will germinate in just 2-3 weeks. Thin them and transplant them in other buckets. Learn To Grow Cherry Tomatoes Properly.
8: Okra
Okra is a very delicious vegetable. This vegetable is very easy to grow. The germination rate of okra seeds is great. Just pick your favorite variety of okra and buy some seeds from the market.
Sow the seeds directly in the soil. Give them water and put your buckets at a sunny location. Click here to learn To Grow Okra From Seeds In Containers.
9: Cucumbers
Cucumbers are delights to eat and to grow. There are tons of varieties of cucumbers out there. You can start growing them from seeds or seedlings. Cucumbers plants are also sun-loving plants.
Plants will need extra support. Trellis is a great way to give them the support they need. Click here to check 10 best and DIY trellises for cucumbers.
10: Beets
Beets have so many health benefits and growing them is not that hard. Beets did not just come in red color, yellow and albino varieties are also great to grow. I suggest you grow smaller varieties of beets in the beginning.
11: Lettuce
Lettuce is one of the easiest leafy greens to grow in buckets. There are so many types of lettuce that you can grow in your kitchen container garden.
You can sow the seeds of lettuce directly in the soil of buckets or you can regrow lettuce from kitchen scraps of lettuce. If there is still frost in your area, you should start the seeds indoors in a seed tray and then transplant seedlings in your outdoor buckets. Learn to grow lettuce from seeds at home.
12: Spinach
Spinach is another healthy leafy green. Growing them in buckets is too easy. No need to buy seedlings of spinach. Sow the seeds directly in the potting soil of your buckets.
Just sprinkle some seeds of spinach on the top of the soil, push them a little with your fingers. Add a very thin layer of soil on the top, give them water and you are good to go. Learn to grow spinach indoors with varieties.
13: Radishes
This is one of the fastest-growing veggies. Great to grow in buckets. You can grow tons of radishes in a single 5-gallon bucket. No need of seedlings, just grow them directly from the seeds.
14: Peas
Peas are also very easy to grow. Sow the seeds of peas indoors in seed trays. Transplant the seedlings in your outdoor buckets when they reach 5-6 inches in length. You can also harvest the pods of peas when they come to maturity or you can eat pea shoots in your salad.
15: Broccoli
Broccoli plants are heavy feeders. They need more space. You can grow one or two broccoli plants in a 5-gallon bucket. Still, you should grow them in your garden because of its long lists of health benefits.
16: Potatoes
Potatoes are great to grow in containers. There are special kinds of bags that are used to grow potatoes but you can still grow them in your buckets. You don’t even have to buy seed potatoes, you can regrow store-bought potatoes. Learn to grow purple potatoes at home.
17: Swiss Chard
This one is another very healthy green. Chard is a very easy growing leafy green. This green is very similar to beets, grow like lettuce but the growth season of swiss chard is a little longer than lettuce.
18: Kale
Kale is another leafy green to grow in your bucket garden. It is easy to grow. Just sow the seeds of kale directly in the soil in a 5-gallon bucket and you will have tons of them after a few weeks.
19: Garlic
Garlic is another vegetable that you can grow without buying seeds from a plant store. You can grow them from your kitchen. Just pick some healthy bulbs of garlic from your kitchen, split them into cloves.
Select some healthy and big cloves and sow them in the soil. Keep the distance of about 5-6 inches between each clove. Give them water and you will have a single bulb from each clove you plant.
20: Turmeric
The method to grow turmeric is very similar to ginger. You can grow turmeric from turmeric. The growing season of turmeric is very long. Click here to read 8 Tips On How to Grow a Ton of Turmeric At Home.
How To Build A Bucket Herb Garden
Yes! you can build your own movable bucket herb garden. That garden can be outdoor or indoor. That depends on the climate situation of your area. Here is how to build your bucket herb garden:
- Select some buckets, you can also use small buckets for herbs. The number of buckets depends on the number of herbs that you want to grow.
- Put some potting soil in your bucket after drilling some holes at the bottom and adding a layer of small stones.
- Now you can grow them from cuttings or from seeds. Always check the moisture level of soil before giving them water.
- Grow mint in a separate bucket or it will cover all your herb garden.
Here are a few easiest herbs that you can grow in your movable bucket herb garden:
21: Mint
22: Basil
23: Parsley
24: Rosemary
25: Dill
26: Sage
27: Oregano
28: Thyme
29: Coriander
30: Dandelion
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