Gardening in a Bucket: A Beginner's Guide - Gardening Maven (2024)

FAQs

How many bags of potting soil do I need for a 5 gallon bucket? ›

Not only do the buckets hold the perfect amount of soil for roots to thrive, but they also take up minimal room, so they don't crowd a patio or deck. One 5 gallon bucket can be home to one vegetable plant or two, or three small herbs.

Some vegetables that do well in containers include nightshades, such as tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Fast-growing crops, including peas and lettuce, also are some of the easiest veggies to grow in pots.

Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, tomatillos (one plant per pot) • Beets, carrots, radish (space according to directions on seed packet) • Green beans, bush peas, • Summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers (one plant per bucket) • Lettuce, kale, spinach, chard (don't overcrowd) • Mint (a perennial), herbs (generally one plant per ...

Tomatoes grow nicely in 5-gallon buckets (both Determinate and semi-Determinate tomato cultivars.) This way of growing tomatoes is ideal for DIY garden containers and small spaces. Fill your drilled bucket with potting soil, add your fertilizer, and plant the tomato half the height of their main stem.

The standard size of these buckets allows for at least two tomato plants per bucket. This makes them an efficient use of space in small gardens or balcony spaces. Moreover, 5-gallon buckets are made from durable materials.

Two or three plants will fit in a five-gallon bucket or grow one cucumber in a 10-inch-wide container. Mix soil with equal parts of compost, potting soil, perlite and peat moss. The compost or rotted manure will get plants off to a good start, or blend in granules of a balanced fertilizer, such as 10-10-10.

Leaf lettuces and salad greens such as kale, chard, mustard, arugula, collards, and watercress are among the easiest of edibles – mainly because they start readily from seeds planted directly in the garden and are quick to mature (meaning less time for anything to go wrong.) Most greens are “cut-and-come-again,” too.

To save money, grow more expensive items, like tomatoes and melons, or large quantities of vegetables that you purchase regularly. Consider vegetables like beans, beets, onions, spinach, broccoli, peppers, carrots, summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, peas, and Swiss chard.

What vegetables are easy to grow for beginners? ›

For container gardening, you need only four things: a container, plants, soil, and water. It's easy and not much different from gardening in a typical landscape garden bed. Many flowers and vegetables commonly grown in the ground can also be grown in containers.

5-gallon Homer buckets can be used to grow some edibles like tomatoes and peppers. Fill with good quality organic potting mix. Be mindful of excessive heat and wind. Move plants around for the best location and stake, if needed.

It will depend on type and saturation, but using a typical specific gravity for soil of 1.3 (g/cc), gives 54 pounds of soil for 5 gallons, if filled. Plus 3 pounds for the empty bucket.

How Much Does a 5 Gallon Bucket Weigh Full of Dirt? If you're doing yard work, you might be wondering how much dirt you can haul in a 5 gallon bucket. A gallon of dirt weighs approximately 11 pounds. That means that 5 gallons of dirt weighs about 55 pounds.