My garden for 2018

[SouthernFarmer1984]

Why do you plant in pots instead of the ground? Are those 1 gallon?

Mary

I'm glad you asked Mary! I learned this trick from The Old Farmers Almanac, They posted a video on their site about what you could do with your left over pots, It was Up-cycling I think. And they said if you take any pot really and twist it into the ground around your plant it creates a water reservoir.

All the water is in one spot at the base of your plant so the roots get the water they need instead of it just running off the side. Plus I use water storing crystals in those same pots and when it rains it fills up the crystals and I only have to water my plants like once or twice a week.

And no I think they are 3 gallon but honestly I'm not sure because I didn't buy those pots. My mother received them from a local nursery who shut down due to the owners failing health, She brought home near 300 pots and the owner still had more to give!

My mother took the big pots that are for trees and did the same thing I did in my garden, She cut the bottoms off and twisted them into the ground around the fruit trees,grapevines and blackberry. And she put the water crystals in the pot as well and told me when she was done that the vines and trees had a big growth spurt from doing that.

This is a great thing to do if you live in a state that has droughts or 100 degree summers, I live in Florida so it gets really bad here sometimes,And with previous years the plants always looked puny no matter how much we watered them. They just couldn't take the dry heat and would soak up the water quickly so this year everything was done different. And we have a water pump so every time it turns on and off the meter is running for our electricity so that's money we are losing. One year we watered so much that the bill was over $300.

 

[ninnymary]

I would have thought that the pot would restrict the plant especially trees from growing. It doesn't do that? This is quite interesting. So besides cutting the bottom off, do you also cut down one side in order to wrap it around the plant?

Mary

 

[baymule]

I like your pot ideas!

 

[SouthernFarmer1984]

I would have thought that the pot would restrict the plant especially trees from growing. It doesn't do that? This is quite interesting. So besides cutting the bottom off, do you also cut down one side in order to wrap it around the plant?

Mary

Oh no! I cut a cross shape into the plastic tarp and take the pot with its bottom cut off and just start twisting it into the dirt half way so it's secured. Because so far it's not effecting the growth of my tomatoes or the bell peppers.

Here's the video link where I got the idea from
https://www.almanac.com/video/reusing-plant-pots-and-containers

 

[Collector]

Great looking garden you have growing. I have never heard of the pot gardening either , but it makes a lot of sense as far as directing 100% of the water to the plant. Thanks for sharing your gardening style, pretty sure you are the only person here doing it.

 

[canesisters]

CLEVER!
... all those pots I've tossed over the years....