The Containers

If you looked at my pics, you'll notice a variety of containers in my garden.  Right now, there are ice cream containers, and chip containers, and egg crates, and coffee cans and... well, of course, there are actual plant pots.  

Any container will do as long as it's mostly watertight.  You don't want to use anything cardboard, because the water will ruin them lickety-split.  (When means no oatmeal containers.  Bummer.)  The reason I say mostly watertight, is because you still need them all to be able to drain or your poor plants will drown and rot.  

Thus, at the bottom of each of the MacGyver'd containers, I've cut holes to let the water out.  Basically, I used a box cutter to make Xs.  I was going to use the drill with an auger bit, but the damn drill needed charging and I was irritated, so I took the containers into the garage and stabbed them to death.  The extra liquid drains out fine, but I don't lose any of the dirt like I sometimes do with the actual plant pots.

The actual plant pots, by the way, were acquired from every plant I've ever bought for the yard.  And I've planted a lot of stuff in my outside gardens, so I have loads of those things.  (Good thing I'm such a pack rat.)  If you're not a pack rat like me, you really are going to need to either buy containers or use household things to make your garden.  I'm cheap, so buying containers was not happening for me.  

The ice cream buckets... Yeah, I eat a LOT of ice cream, so I already had tons of those.  (Pack rat, remember.)  I still have several I haven't used yet.  Those will all be lettuces.  The chip containers are carrots.  The egg cartons are for starter seedlings - lettuce and tomatoes.  The coffee can has carrots in it, too.  Anything tall will have carrots in it.  Oh, and I totally forgot about the juice cartons.  Those are Tampico Punch - where I cut the tops off.  They're tall, so they work.  And yes, they have holes in the bottoms, too.

Like I said, anything will work.  You do have to consider what kind of vegetable you're planting in each, though.  The zucchinis are in actual pots - low to the ground with plenty of stability so when they go to vine, they won't tip themselves over.  The tomatoes will also be in similar pots - low and stable - so when they get tall, they won't tip over.  Lettuce needs to be in a big enough container to accommodate the size of the adult plant.  And like I said, carrots have to be in a tall enough pot to fit the length of a full grown carrots.  The carrots seeds I bought are supposed to produce 7-8" carrots, so the containers have to be at least that tall.  Don't want mutant carrots.

Sure, I couldn't spent a ton on real pots.  :shrug:  It's just not my style.  The only thing in a store bought pot - one not purchased with a plant already inside - are the baby cedars.  And I had the pot in the garage for years.  I think it used to have a Christmas cactus in it that I transplanted after I bought it.  It died.  Long live the cedars.

What about you?  What kinds of pot ideas would you have if you were going to create a container garden the MacGyver way?