Vegetables Gardening - Growing Organic Vegetables

Janet,
The Taj Mahoop is still standing with the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and herbs in it presently.  We finally got rain on July 4th, and today since I don't know when.  My 9 rain water barrels and 4 trash cans are full of rain water for a total of 623 gallons.  I am excited that you are useing global buckets yourself with 3 and 5 gallon buckets.  That is fantastic.  I wish I could talk to you over the phone about it.  I did e-mail you in the private.  Did you get it?  Please let me know.
 
Laszlo

From: Janet Schultz <schultzjanet@ymail.com>
To: Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 5, 2011 2:29 AM
Subject: Re: [Organic_Gardening] Burlap raised beds for cucumbers

Hey Lazlo
How's the Tajmahoop doing? lol Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.
anyway to the matter at hand....Global buckets are awesome. I have had them for
two years three seasons, love them.  I still need to rig up the simple siphon to
water them but need to set up the rain barrel to feed the siphon to get it
organized permanently.  I brought my nicest tomatoes in to protect them from
frost last fall and kept them going until January in Alberta.
I use five gallon buckets and three gallon buckets as well and grow tomatoes,
squash, peppers, melons and cukes.  I grow some of my lettuce in pots as well as
my potatoes in pop up leaf bags.  I have never really had issues with root bound
plants but this is my first year for pumpkins. The one thing is they need a lot
of compost tea, or whatever you use to feed your plants.

I am experimenting with soils right now because of the costs associated with
peat moss, coir etc in areas of poverty which was the original impetus behind
the design.  I have demonstrated them for food security displays at our local
eco fair and now I will be doing a powwow. Native communities have got to be the
most under-served communities in our country...I will be demo-ing the buckets
with a whole swack of peppers I bought on sale....mostly hot but a few chocolate
ones as well...and I want to build a window farm as part of the demonstration,
and talk about the benefits of being able to bring it in for the winter another
little bit of free fresh food....
Stepping down of compost heap now.....
Cheers
Bina

________________________________
From: Laszlo Horvath <laszloh@rocketmail.com>
To: "Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com" <Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Mon, July 4, 2011 1:48:21 PM
Subject: Re: [Organic_Gardening] Burlap raised beds for cucumbers

 
Hello everyone,
I sent the below e-mail last Saturday and I finally got it Monday 3:40pm.  Since
my original posting a lot of research and a lot of water has gone down the
Potomac.  I came accross Global Buckets.  Does anyone in the group have any
experience using them?  What are the plusses and drawbacks of using them.  I am
hopefully getting closer to a solution to my problem with the veggies in the
buckets presently.  Here is the web site for the Global Buckets:
http://www.globalbuckets.org/

Laszlo

From: Laszlo <laszloh@rocketmail.com>
To: Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, July 2, 2011 1:01 AM
Subject: [Organic_Gardening] Burlap raised beds for cucumbers

In my last posting I mentioned building raised boxes to put the cucumber plants
and cantaloupes into that I am having trouble with being in the plastic bucket
containers.  However, since then I had another idea I wish to run by everyone
hoping someone has done what I am proposing and if not why not, what is the
drawback.  I do not want to make any more mistakes if I don't have to.  My
proposal is to make a frame around the plants with open sides which I would
cover with burlap that I would staple to the wood all the way around and I would
put weed fabric and cardboard at the bottom before I filled it in with soil.  As
far as getting the plants out of the buckets, it is going to be one heck of a
task without breaking the plants that are connected to the cattle panel.  So I
am thinking of cutting the buckets from top to bottom and opening them up to
remove the entire root bound plant that way.  Then I would have to separate some
of the roots before I
put them in the soil of the raised bed.  I am making worm casting tea to use
tomorrow so that I can possibly revive them a little before I start yanking them
around. 

I am looking for input regarding the use of burlap for the walls of the bed.  I
know that in time they decompose but for the small price I can add a new wall
using the burlap again. Lowe's has the roll of burlap  3ft x 24ft out of which I
could make four 1'6" high x 2' wide x 4' long raised beds.  The wood posts I
already have all I have to do is assemble them and staple the burlap all the way
around it.

The thought came to me that burlap would let the air into it and water out of
it.  It seems like a good idea to me, unless someone can give me feedback as to
why it is not such a good idea.

I would like to thank everyone for their feedback in advance. 

Laszlo
Zone 7b, Raleigh, NC

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