How to Make a Cheap Garden Container from a Cardboard Box

You can make containers for growing vegetables from almost anything. Here is an example of a DIY Container:

How to Make a Cheap Tomato Garden Container from a Cardboard Box http://bit.ly/18mR618



For about $1.50 you can make a 1.5 cubic foot or 8 gallon tomato container box. Any cardboard box can be made into a vegetable planting container for under two bucks. If you use a box you have then you can do it for under one buck.

The video shows you how to make the container with a box, 2 trash bags and some basic hardware you can get in the electrical or plumbing isle of stores like Home Depot.

You can grow one large tomato in it. You could use it to grow two peppers. You could grow a cucumber in it. This is a great way to make inexpensive containers for your container vegetable garden. You don't want to get too much bigger then what I showed or the box will be hard to move around. You could get 2 seasons. Especially if you seal the PVC pieces with some silicon.

The video is from Gary Pilarchik's popular YouTube channel.

Please note: Most trash bags are not from food grade plastic and you should not store food in them. That does not mean you cannot grow vegetables in them. Most trash bags are made from plastic labeled as 1 or 2.

How to Make Homemade Fertilizers

- Compost tea is an all-purpose homemade fertilizer safe to use on all types of plants. It is created by brewing a closed sack filled with 2 shovelfuls of compost in water. Generally, a ratio of 5 parts water to 1 part compost is poured over the compost-filled sack, which is sitting in the middle of a large container. A lid is placed on the container, and the tea is left alone to brew for about 10 days. Once the liquid achieves a tea-like color, it can be transferred to a garden pump sprayer and applied as a foliar fertilizer spray.



Making Compost Tea - YouTube http://bit.ly/19m3iih

- Fish emulsion is a homemade fertilizer using fish waste -- such as fish parts and guts -- and water. This organic all-purpose fertilizer takes weeks to make, and the mixture must have time to rot before you can use it. To begin the process, fill one-third of a 55-gallon drum with a ratio of 2 parts water and 1 part fish waste. Add more water to the drum until it is completely full and let it ferment for several weeks. The fish emulsion fertilizer can be applied to the plants at a rate of 3 gallons of liquid for every 100 square feet.

References:

Homemade All-Purpose Fertilizer Recipe for Flowering Plants | Home Guides | SF Gate http://bit.ly/13b6v0A

How to make compost tea

"How to Make Compost Tea - Super EZ Method":



Compost and Compost Tea! - YouTube - Start watching from time mark 9m 05s:

http://bit.ly/17J5y8M



Making Compost Tea - YouTube http://bit.ly/19m3iih

Related:

How to make your own compost tea - YouTube http://bit.ly/17J5Dt9
Hassle Free Compost Tea - YouTube http://bit.ly/17JNuv7

Materials for DIY sub-irrigated planter (SIP) for lettuce, green onions and garlic and many other vegetables

Here is a list of materials for DIY sub-irrigated planter (SIP) for lettuce, green onions and garlic, and many other vegetables:

- a bucket or plastic storage box. Use BPA-free plastic. For example, Dollar Tree offers large "Sure Fresh" plastic containers for $1. There are 9-qt (2.2-gallon) plastic buckets at Dollar Tree that can be used as planters.

- water/air reservoir. Many plastic containers, for example, a plastic bowl for takeout food can be used for this. Drill multiple holes. Alternatively, the holes can be poked with a knife.

- draining tube. The same tube can be used to pour the water in the reservoir. You may need a funnel. A food example is 1/2-Inch Diameter Vinyl Tubing that is available for 27 cents per foot at Lowe's. Amazon offers a similar product: Watts SVIG20 Pre-Cut 1/2-Inch Diameter by 3/8-Inch Clear Vinyl Tubing, 20-Foot Length.



Significant benefits of SIP gardens over traditional "drench and drain" gardens include:

- Water savings in the range of 70-80%
- No runoff of water and nutrients
- Increased productivity of edible plants
- Sustainability - no more short life plants due to uneven watering

This bubble SIP design is an insert for any watertight container. The reservoirs are made from a wide variety of recycled food containers. Most of the bubble reservoirs can be made from round 48 oz Glad type food containers. The fill tubes are recycled water bottles. Cut the bottoms off and they sleeve together to make fill tubes for containers of varying depths. The overflow drain valves are made from readily available vinyl tubing.

The tools are simple but caution is advised when using a wood burning pen or box cutter. The wood-burning pen works well in making both the small holes (approx 1/8”) and the hole for the overflow drain valve. Push the pen tip through to the heated barrel and it will make a ½” hole for the tubing.

All of the plastic and resin planters (without drain holes) shown at the URL link below are widely available at modest prices from stores like Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart, Dollar Tree. They are readily adaptable to sub-irrigation using the “bubble SIP” design. The bubble metaphor reflects on the need for an online supply of both water and oxygen…just like a bubble.

Plants benefit by the fact that their root system resides right over an immediate supply of water and oxygen with no need for an electric pump. The principle of ebb and flow is modeled after systems used in modern greenhouse production. As the water rises by capillary action and used by the plant, additional air flows into the reservoir. There is always a balance of both water and air in the reservoir. Sub-irrigation like this is, in fact, a simple form of hydroponics.

Related:

Inside Urban Green: A Sub-irrigated "Bubble SIP" Water Conservation Test Garden http://bit.ly/1DuuvBL