what else can I plant in containers

[crazzzymike13]

I have some potaotes planted in some barrels. I have an extra barrel that I want to plant something in. What else can I plant in it besides potaotes. I already have a barrel of sweet potatoes and those big potatoes. I will have plenty potatoes!!!! Any sugestions???

Mike

 

[Catalina]

Tomatoes! I have a neighbor that plants a tomato in a huge garbage can every year. It grows great!

 

[davaroo]

I plant melons in old tires. They heat up right proper in the sun, and the melons do well.

 

[Adrien]

Almost all vegetables can be grown in containers! So, plant whatever you like (to eat): Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplant, Squash, Leaf Lettuce, Green Onions, Green Bean, Radishes, Cucumbers..
I have two half barrels, they are sturdy planters about two feet in diameter and 16 to 18 inches tall. Half barrel depth makes it ideal for a mini-vegetable garden, with plenty of room for roots.

 

[Purple Strawberry]

Adrien is right. They make a bush variety of cucumbers, tomatoes, squash and a lot of other varietys.

 

[davaroo]

back to the tire notion....

My friend's son is a race car driver and so he has about a gazillion used racing tires at his shop. Free for the asking, they are 24" wide and have NO steel reinforcing belts anywhere in the tire. This means I can cut them in half around the tread circumference and get two tall "tubs" for growing in. I then twist them inside out, so as to place the smooth interior facing out.

Filled with soil, these things make excellent planters for about anything I want to put in them. There is also a near endless supply, especially when you consider I get TWO planters for each tire I haul home and cut in two.

I know what you are thinking: " Yeah, well, thats great for you David - but I don't have a race car driving friend!"

Not so fast! Dont think this is just a good deal for me - every car on the road has tires on it and used tires are nearly everywhere. I'm pretty sure you can put your hands on more than a few, yourself. While they may not be racing tires, they can still be used this way.

Automobile tires have no steel in the sidewalls, either. Therefore, the sidewalls are easily cut out to make tubs, too. However, they are MUCH harder to turn inside out.

Racing tires are designed to go mostly straight on a smooth track, so there are no stiffeners, steel belts or bias wraps in them. Auto and truck "donuts," by comparison, are built with all of these so as to take the rigors of road driving...
Turning theses babies inside out is like fighting a gorilla. It can be done, but you have to find the "sweet spot" on the tire - the place where you can start the inside out twisting. This is best done if you start with a nearly worn out tire.
To be honest, I'm lazy and have just left them tread out. Now that I have access to the racing tires, I dont bother with regular car tires at all.

But for those who would like to try tire planters, remember there are tons of these "Redneck Raised Beds" around. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention... you can stack them as high as you want to make genuine raised beds. With sidewlas cut out, the tires nested together in offset fashion and then filled with soil, they stand up tall and rigid. Maybe add a reinforcing stake of rebar or old pipe, if needed.

Now, tires are being recycled these days more and more, becoming everything from playground equipment to garden mulch. SO they arent laying around in every ditch and back lot. But I'll bet some local tire shops will give you some, just for the novelty of the planter project you'll proposeto them.

So, you would be wise to at least consider them. While I never got the hang of "flipping" them, it can be done, and the tires then painted or decorated to look fairly nice. If aesthetics don't matter to you, leave them as is - sans flipping - and plant away.

Here are three of my 'Racing Tire Tubs':

You can do the earth a favor by recycling them this way and your plants grow happily in them due to the fact that they warm up the soil under sunlight. They will last nearly forever as planters and I'd rather see them used that way than ground up into inorgainc yard mulch. I mean, what is that all about?!

They can also be used for everything from building retaining walls to making compost bins, too. I've even heard of people building sheds and other things from them - and Im pondering some way to make a chicken coop from them myself!

In order to get you started, here are two great links on the web on ways to "ReUse Old Tires"....
http://www.wuvie.net/tireplanter.htm

This one has more links to even more tire ideas!

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/sanders98.html

A classic site, worth exploring at length.

 

[Jewels19]

Container gardening is really fun and a great way to save space too. You can grow just about anything that doesn't vine like pumpkin/watermelon...I have an awesome book on container gardening...If you like carrots, those are easily grown and you can pile them in! Here is a pic of my book..came from eBay

 

[davaroo]

Container gardening is really fun and a great way to save space too. You can grow just about anything that doesn't vine like pumpkin/watermelon...I have an awesome book on container gardening...If you like carrots, those are easily grown and you can pile them in! Here is a pic of my book..came from eBay

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh64/Jewels1935/l_8c9386ab0fd14f2699f5169807516bca.jpg

If you look at the pic, at my Tire Tubs, youll see the ones on the left have MELONS growing in them. I just trail the vines around the planters to make a leafy "necklace." You could also erect a trellis with any container and grow vertically.

 

[Catalina]

Wow! Davaroo those look nice!

 

[Jewels19]

Container gardening is really fun and a great way to save space too. You can grow just about anything that doesn't vine like pumpkin/watermelon...I have an awesome book on container gardening...If you like carrots, those are easily grown and you can pile them in! Here is a pic of my book..came from eBay

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh64/Jewels1935/l_8c9386ab0fd14f2699f5169807516bca.jpg

If you look at the pic, at my Tire Tubs, youll see the ones on the left have MELONS growing in them. I just trail the vines around the planters to make a leafy "necklace." You could also erect a trellis with any container and grow vertically.

Wow! I seen the pics but didn't realize you had melons.. It can be done..if you need the space, then growing them in containers wouldn't be a good idea..I can't wait to see your containers flourish!