17 gallon wash tub as a planter bed

These 17 gallon wash tubs make a nice planter bed.  For around $18 at Lowes you can't beat it for price and size.  First thing that must be done is some drain holes need to be put in the bottom.


Over these holes I place some weed blocking material.  It will let water pass through and keep the dirt in.  Actually I do this on all my pots.


The next step is obvious, fill with potting mix.  Then plant.  You don't want it sitting directly on the ground so some bricks are placed underneath.  This will keep the critters from getting up into your grow bed.

01-06-2013 Update

Things are growing good in the containers.  The plants were fertilized with Miracle Grow a couple days ago.


Here is the microgreens in front and the mesclun mix in the rear.  The three little planters has one of the microgreens growing in it.


I planted some garlic in a pot as well. Three of them along with three onions.


In the past never once has the garlic grown. All three came up. Will have to relocate the onions out of the pot so the garlic has room.

Seed starting my way

This will demonstrate my process for starting seeds with a Burpee Self Watering Seed Starter and Grodan rockwool cubes.


These are some of the items needed.  1.5" Grodan A-Ok Starter Plugs, pH up and down and a pH meter.  You can use a pH chemical test kit from the pet store instead of the electric one here.


The Burpee Self Watering Seed Starting system is the what we are using for a greenhouse.  It comes with a seed tray and peat moss pellets.  Those will not be used.


First thing we have to do is adjust he pH of the rockwool.  Test your tap water to see what the pH is first.  Use your pH up/down to adjust it.  A word of caution use only a couple drops at a time to adjust the water.  Test each time until the pH is at 5.5.  Then soak the cubes for 30-60 minutes.


Next the cloth mat is soaked in water then placed on the stand in the tray.  I use the same water used to soak the cubes in the tray.


Then the rest is easy.  Set the cubes on the tray and put a seed in the hole.  Place the dome on top of the tray and place it under light.


In 3-4 days you should have seedlings.   At this point the seedlings were hitting the clear dome.  Only 8 out of 12 have come up so far but I expect the others will show up in a couple days.  For some reason some seeds take longer than others.  I will let these sit on the tray until the secondary leaves start and roots are coming out of the rockwool.  Then it is time for the ground.