Six crops you can plant in buckets

Chief Administrative Secretary Agriculture Livestock and Fisheries Anne Nyaga looks at Lettuce at a Kitchen Garden at the Ministry of Agriculture Offices. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard] Used buckets can be reclaimed and used to grow food. There are wide range of fruits vegetables that can be grown in buckets. I will share tips on how you can grow various crops in buckets. The plastic bucket to be used will require holes for drainage. If your containers are to be placed on a hard surface, consider placing support structures below to allow water to drain freely. Lettuce and Other Leafy Crops If you are a novice gardener, or new to container gardening, start with loose leaf lettuce. Just broadcast your seeds over the surface of the growing medium in your bucket at a spacing of to 1 inch. Then thin to around three to four inches apart. The most important resource when growing lettuce in containers is water. Lettuce has shallow roots and responds best to consistent, shallow watering. Plants grown in the garden need at least an inch (2.5 cm.) per week; lettuce in pots need a bit more. You could also consider taking a bucket and cutting holes in the sides. That means that you can plant these leafy crops into the holes too, and get a bigger harvest from a small space. Zucchini Zucchini is quite a good choice for container gardens because it has relatively shallow roots. A container that is around 12 inches deep should be sufficient. However, zucchini requires plenty of nutrients to grow and produce well. This means that the larger the container you can provide, the better. The larger the container, the less the need to replenish the nutrients over time. Perhaps the most important thing when growing zucchini in containers is choosing the right varieties to grow. Some zucchini grows much larger than others. Note that large, sprawling plants won't do well in containers. So it is a good idea to choose smaller, more compact dwarf varieties. Carrots & Other Root Vegetables A number of different root crops can also be grown in five gallon buckets. You can successfully grow a wide range of different carrots in a 20-kilo bucket, since this is a container deep enough to allow even longer roots to grow. Carrots have relatively low nutritional needs compared with many other common crops. But they do need a light and relatively free draining growing medium. Adding some sand to your potting mix can help make sure that the bucket drains more freely. You can also grow other root crops such as beets in a bucket. But beets will need more water, space and a somewhat richer soil since they have higher nutrient needs. Strawberries You don't need to have in-ground growing space to grow strawberries. Strawberries are a relatively easy crop to grow and you can grow a lot in a single bucket. You might consider making holes in the sides of the bucket to create extra planting pockets for strawberry plants. You could also consider stacking buckets to make a taller planting tower. Strawberries need to be watered well. Ensure that the planting media is free draining to avoid water logging. Apply fertiliser rich in potassium at flowering to increase yields. Peppers Peppers are fairly shallow rooted and therefore can do quite well in containers. Dwarf varieties of peppers could be grown in even smaller containers. But most varietals of sweet and chilli pepper will thrive in a larger bucket of 20 kilos. Pepper plants thrive in an environment with relatively high humidity, therefore supplementary watering and foliage spray will be useful to maintain humidity levels. You could also plant one smaller pepper plant alongside a couple of small herb plants such as basil as companion plant. Eggplant Eggplants can also be grown easily in containers. Plant a single plant in a 20 kilos bucket. This will provide sufficient space for the plant to grow. Just like tomatoes, provision of supporters is a must. Make sure the bucket is free draining to allow sufficient nutrient circulation and at the same time allowing excess water to drain out.

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