Less is More

The following was designed by Bob Hyland at his wonderful website Inside Urban Green.

Required Tools: All you need is a hot tool to poke holes in the plastic containers (milk jugs, juice bottles, nursery flats, etc) and a hot knife to cut a slot in the bottom side of the bottle(s) to allow free flow of water. There is no need for power tools, PVC tubing and complicated fabrication. For larger images, click on the pictures.

Recycled plastics (food containers, nursery flats) create the soil platform, soil wicks and water reservoir. Five milk containers are used here (about 2 1/2 gallon reservoir capacity). Cut large slots on the bottom side of the containers to allow water entry and poke holes in the top side for aeration and drainage of any excess water. An overflow drain hole (top center) prevents over watering. Recycled water bottles create a fill tube.

Potting mix (NO top soil) packed down between the recycled plastics creates the soil wicking system. The water from the reservoirs will rise by capillary action creating a uniform distribution of water throughout the bucket. Simply pour water down the fill tube until you see some water exit the overflow drain hole (top center).

The tote box lid with the center cut out makes a retainer for a sheet plastic mulch cover (not shown). Recycle the soil mix bag, black side up. This prevents weed growth and water evaporation.

One question about this system is the durability of the milk containers and the inverted nursery trays. How will they stand up through a growing season?

The designer, Mr. Hyland, requests that if you do try this design to please send feedback on your results. Once again, his website is Inside Urban Green.

Here are some other pictures from Mr. Hyland using the same concept:

To make the fill tube, simply cut off the bottoms of plastic water or Coke bottles with a box cutter and stack them for any length fill tube.

Experimental Design : Water Bottle

Curt Lindley, a Peace Corp worker in Mandeville, Jamaica, just sent us pictures of a one-bucket design that he's developed.
1) Cut the top off of a water bottle (we'll call it the "top")
2) drill a a number of holes into the top
3) cut a hole into the top for a watering tube
4) attach (with duct tape?) an absorbent acrylic fabric over the top's opening (the yellow fabric in the photo)
5)Turn the top upside down and place it into the bucket
6) fill with potting mix

Below are some pictures Curt sent us. Curt (in the black T-shirt) and some fellow Peace Corps volunteers are at a school in Jamaica making 30 "buckets" in one day in May 2010. Click on the pictures for a larger image.

Experimental Design : Gravel

Gravel with Screen
A reader, Pete Sims, has a clever idea for a one-bucket design. We've asked Pete to send us some pictures of his setup. If you've used a similar design please let us know and we'll post your ideas. Pete writes...

1) Make a mark on the inside of the bucket all the way around at 12" from the top

2) Place a tin can with holes punched into it and place it in the center of the bucket

3) Make sure that you have your input water hole/line and your exit water hole/line installed (if you are connecting in series), before you go to the next step

4) Fill the bottom of the bucket with gravel that is maybe 3/4 to 1 inch in size all the way up to the mark on the bucket

5) Get a piece of screen or material that will let water through and place it over the gravel with a cut out for the tin can

6) Now you can fill the bucket with potting mix and plant the same as usual.

You can easily adjust your water level by either raising or lowering the float valve or the bucket. This method as you can see utilizes one less bucket and at the same time uses a product that is found worldwide, gravel!

Lessons Learned, Advice and Comments from Readers

Red Party Cups
In our video, BUILD a Global Bucket, we're using 18 oz Kirkland Chinet Premium Heavyweight plastic cups purchased from COSTCO . The 3 1/2" hole saw makes a perfectly sized hole for the 18 oz cup. A 16 oz cup should work fine, but you'll need a smaller hole saw.


"Food Grade" Buckets
A reader wondered if the possibility of plastic leaching from a bucket is a health concern. We do not express any opinion on this question, but if you do have concerns you may want to use "food grade" buckets (buckets that once held food in them).


Irrigation and Root Disease
A viewer from YouTube (jj8a) questioned if root disease could transfer from one bucket to another bucket via the 1/4" tubing in the automatic watering system. This is a great question. To be honest, we don't know the answer. We don't think water or a disease would migrate from the end of one tube in the bottom of one bucket back into the 1/4" tube and then into the main 1/2" line. Why? The siphon is "pointing" away from the 1/2" line towards the bottom of the bucket. It's a one-way force. Perhaps to be on the safe side, we should eliminate the optional "T" in the 1/4" line that feeds two buckets from the 1/2" line. If you're an expert in agriculture who appreciates the siphon's one-way force we would love an expert opinion. Thanks!


Avoid Mosquitoes
The water refill pipe should be covered or capped. In tropical climates, the opening will invite female mosquitoes to breed and consequently diseases such as malaria or dengue could spread rapidly. (from YouTube viewer "asanov" writing from Malaysia)
Editor's Note: Shouldn't be a problem if you're using our automated watering system as seen in the videos.

Use Level Ground
If you're using our automated watering system (see the videos) make sure the buckets are on the same level ground as the reservoir. We had our buckets and reservoir on a sunken patio which had an "invisible to the naked eye" 1/4" per foot drop. The main reservoir was eight feet south of the buckets. This resulted in the bucket's water level two inches too low. Ooops!

Float Valves
This is where we buy float valves: US Plastic Corp
Make sure you get the adjustable valve. We upgraded from the 1/4" to the 1/2" because during the summer the plants were drawing a lot of water from the yellow reservoir and it appeared that the 1/4" valve couldn't keep up with the demand.

Renewable Peat?
"Just so you know, the 'traditional' thinking has been that peat bogs take 10,000s years to form. I have seen college text books that teach this. However recent research has found that Sphagnum moss grows up to 30 inches tall each year. I own 150 acres of forestland which includes peat bog. I can harvest peat, and it does grow back. Allowing re-harvest every 8 years. If I remove a 3 foot thick layer of peat, and come back 8 years later I can do it again. Peat is a renewable resource. Northern Scotland, Ireland, and Finland have been performing renewable harvests of their peat bogs for about 30 years." Galen Young of Argyle, Maine.

Dolomite

Probably the most confusing material is Dolomite. Often it's not labeled as Dolomite, but don't give up, you can find it if you look a little. Dolomite is commonly sold in garden or farm stores.

Dolomite is added to the potting mix to:
1) adjust the pH : it lowers the acidity ("sweeten")
2) add magnesium (important!)
3) add calcium (important!)

Key Points When Shopping for Dolomite:
-Often the bag will NOT say "dolomite"

-It might be labeled as "Agricultural Lime", "Agricultural Limestone" or "Garden Lime". Check the ingredients label. It must have CALCIUM & MAGNESIUM.

-"Agricultural Lime" and "Garden Lime" are broad terms. Just remember, if it doesn't say calcium, magnesium or calcium/magnesium carbonate or some variation of this, then it's not dolomite.

-"Hydrated Lime" is not dolomite. Hydrated Lime is highly concentrated, highly caustic and dangerous to handle or breath. Also, it contains no magnesium.

-Any bag of "lime" labeled "DOLOMITE" containing calcium and magnesium is suitable.

-Dolomite can be sold in finely powdered, pulverized or pelleted form. Buy the powdered or pulverized and avoid the pelleted form. The finer the dolomite is ground, the faster it becomes available to the plants. Talcum powder fine is best.

-Price: For a 50lb bag the cost should be US $4.00 to US $6.00

-Acid loving plants, like strawberries or blueberries, only need 1/2 cup or less.

"Soil" Recipes

You can NOT use ordinary dirt in your global buckets.

Why? Wicking! Key to the success of Global Buckets is the water wicking up from the reservoir up into the upper bucket where the plant's root soak up the water. Ordinary dirt or soil will not wick. You need a growing medium that wicks. Sphagnum peat and coir are excellent wicking materials.

Here in the USA you can buy bags of pre-mixed material which work well. It's often sold as "potting mix". The main ingredients should be listed as sphagnum peat and/or coir with the remainder as some combination of vermiculite and/or perlite. The following materials do NOT wick: screened topsoil, forest biproducts, bark, forest humus, sawdust or partially composted something. If the bag lists any of the preceding materials as the dominate material then do not buy it.

We prefer to make our own growing medium. Here are our recipes:

Recipe #1: Sphagnum Peat
70% Sphagnum Peat
20% Vermiculite
10% Perlite

Recipe #2: Sphagnum Peat and Coir
35% Sphagnum Peat
35% Coir
20% Vermiculite
10% Perlite

Recipe #3: Coir
70% Coir
30% Perlite
Note: We're still testing the 70% Coir recipe.....


Pictured below is Recipe #2.
Perlite: very white material
Vermiculite: light grey
Sphagnum Peat & Coir: dark













Coir
We're very interested in Recipe # 3 which uses Coir and eliminates Sphagnum Peat. Why?

Coir, or coir pith, is a byproduct of the coconut industry. Until recently, coir was viewed as waste. It was burned or shoveled into massive piles which sat for decades. Recently, it was discovered that coir pith is an excellent substitute for Sphagnum Peat.

Why do we care? It takes 10,000 years for Sphagnum Peat to be created in wetlands and it's rapidly being depleted. Also, coir pith is widely available in many developing countries and regions, like India and central America...an area where Global Buckets could be utilized.

Where to find Buckets?

1) Bakeries. Frosting is shipped in buckets. These buckets are often smaller than 5 gallons, resulting in smaller water reservoirs. If you use the automatic watering system, you should be AOK. Wayne Burks from Anderson, Mo. writes, "I've been finding them at some Walmart stores that have bakeries. I get at least 5 at a time. Tonight I was able to get 9!"

2) Pickles. Deli pickles are often shipped in 5 gallon buckets.

3) Drywall Mud. According to Friedrich from Munich Germany, buckets that are used to ship drywall ("SheetRock") mud are safe. We express no opinion on the safety of using drywall mud buckets for a garden. Do not use them unless you have verified that they're safe.

4) Soap Makers. Make friends with a person who makes handcrafted soap. Vegetable oil, which is shipped in 6.5 gallon buckets, is used in the soap making process.

5) Mexican restaurants. I live near a Mexican restaurant which puts out their used buckets and lids weekly so this is a really good source. If you don't mind the fact that they are imprinted with the words Lard and Pork Bellies and of course you have to clean out the residual! I use the lard scrapings to make little eateries for the wild bird population in the winter. Sylvia from Norristown, Pennsylvania.

6) Fast Food restaurants. I find buckets at the Burger King on an Army base nearby. The pickles are shipped and as they empty the buckets they normally throw them out. Simply ask the manager to set them of to the side and you can pick them up at your leisure. David Lonowski US Army Irlbach, Germany

7) Electric motor rewinding shops get their wire in 5 gal. buckets. These are spotlessly clean and ready for use. They just junk them. Mike Connolly from Central Illinois.

8) Wine Store. "I found free buckets at a wine making retail store." Marcelle from Timmins Ontario Canada

9) Kitty Litter. I use empty cat litter buckets from myself and my friends. They have the right plastic rating and they work GREAT! Teresa

10) Cafeteria Lady & Craigslist. I found two great sources for buckets. 1) I asked the "cafeteria lady" at my child's school to save them for me (took a little patience but I got 6) 2) I found someone selling buckets for 50 cents each on craigslist.org (instant gratification they had hundreds - I bought 30) Shannon Fresno CA

11) Car Washes. I've recently discovered car washes, particularly the self serve car washes, have a large supply of buckets. The one near me has a never ending supply of 5, 30 and 55 gallon plastic buckets. Sam Aiello of New Jersey.

Links

EarthBox® Forum
An active forum where EarthBox® ideas are exchanged.

ECHO
A nonprofit that equips people to reduce hunger and improve the lives of the poor. They've opened our eyes. Thanks Dr. Martin Price!

Green Roof Growers

Bruce, Art and Heidi are enthusiastic Chicago rooftop gardeners using the 2-bucket system. The rooftop photos are from their Chicago apartments.

EarthBox®
Buy the excellent EarthBox® container here if you don't want to build a Global Bucket.

Brick City Urban Farmers

John Taylor has created a community project to bring fresh produce to Newark New Jersey residents using 500 EarthBox® planters.

EarthBox

EarthBoxes
The technology behind EarthBoxes and Global Buckets is very similar. The main difference is that EarthBoxes cost $30 to $54 and are trucked across the country. Global Buckets are made using locally sourced, recycled and very low cost or free materials.

If a do-it-yourself project does not appeal to you, click here to buy EarthBoxes. Please note that we do not have any relationship to EarthBox.

Earthbox®, Container Gardening, Sub-Irrigated Planter

Earthbox®, Container Gardening, Sub-Irrigated Planter...what's the difference?


Container Gardening
"Container gardening is the practice of growing plants exclusively in containers or "pots", instead of planting them in the ground" (Wikipedia). Global buckets is a form of container gardening.


Sub-Irrigated Planter
Sub-Irrigated Planter (SIP) is a generic name for a special type of planting box used in container gardening. The key feature is found in the watering system. The water is introduced from the bottom, allowing the water to soak upwards to the plant through capillary action (Wikipedia). Global Buckets is a form of sub-irrigated planter.


Earthbox®
Earthbox® is a patented sub-irrigated planter system. Earthbox's® research shows that an Earthbox® planter can double fruit and vegetable yields, using less water. Earthbox® brought the concept of sub-irrigated planters to the broad public.

The technology behind EarthBox® planters and Global Buckets is very similar. The main difference is that an EarthBox® planter cost $30 to $54 and are trucked across the country. Global Buckets are made using locally sourced, recycled and very low cost or free materials.

If a do-it-yourself project does not appeal to you, click here to buy an EarthBox® planter. Please note that we don't have any relationship to EarthBox®.