How to make your Own Vegetable Bucket Garden

As food costs increase and families look to save money in creative ways, home vegetable gardens are becoming more popular across the country. In some situations, one of the major challenges to growing your own food is to find a suitable design that is inexpensive and can provide portability, if needed.

Portability is an important aspect if you live in a home that does not provide optimal conditions for a stationary garden. Some of the issues that may require portability may include minimal access to sunlight, strong wind conditions or animal control. A bucket garden is a very simple way to begin your journey toward food independence.

If you are unsure whether or not you even want to venture down the path of becoming a self made vegetable grower, you can start small with one or two 5-gallon buckets. Most begin with the basic vegetable plants; tomatoes, peppers, peas or even green beans before they go full bore. You can even start small with herbs like basil or parsley before tackling real vegetable plants.

To get started, you can go to any home improvement or hardware store to get the following materials:

1. 1 or 2 five gallon buckets 2. Potting Soil 3. Tomato or Pepper plants 4. Fertilizer

Most 5 gallon buckets come in white, but you can buy different colors to accent your garden theme. You can add a little pizazz to your bucket garden by dressing up the 5 gallon containers with some paint. Pastel colors and designs might be a bit corny, but white buckets may be a bit plain and this may help dress up your growing space.

Once you have everything you need, follow the process below to build your first bucket garden:

1. Drill several holes in the bottom of the 5 gallon bucket for drainage 2. Fill the bucket 2/3 of the way with the potting soil 3. Create several divots in the soil about 3 to 4 inches apart 4. Place plants into the holes and cover with remaining potting soil 5. Add Water and place in partial sunlight

Having vegetable buckets sit on the ground or up on a table can provide the basic portability you need. Another option for your bucket garden is the ability to suspend them off the ground so you can grow your plants upside down. This option can allow tomato or pepper plants to grow out the bottom without having to worry about staking your plants to keep them upright. If selecting this approach, the overall planting process would be slightly different to create the desired effect.