Container Gardening - Milk Box Gardening

These days people with small spaces want to experience and enjoy gardening. With our very busy lives we seldom have time for a large garden; space is usually limited to.
One of the most unusual wall gardens we have made over the years is made with a plastic milk box. These milk boxes are the ones we normally find everywhere. Sometimes you can find them for sale in box stores, hardware stores or bargain stores. Usually you can find them for less than ten dollars, or pennies in a garage sale.
What you need for this project is a milk box, soil filter cloth, good organic topsoil, some way of fastening the milk box to an exterior or interior wall, and of course, plants.
The first thing we do is fasten the box to a wall – exterior for outdoor gardening, indoors for house plants. For outside wood walls, drill a couple of pilot holes in the milk box, and then use carpenter screws to fasten it to the wall. For inside the home, mounting augur screws with seventy pound capacity will work, as you can hang the milk box where it is convenient to water it. It is important to hang the box on the wall first as when it is full of topsoil it is much too heavy.
Once the box is on the wall, line the box with filter cloth. Then fill the box with topsoil. If you want plants to grow through the holes in the box, you place the topsoil in layers. First add a layer of topsoil, and then add a layer of plants. Add more topsoil and more plants to your desired level, with a final layer of topsoil covering the last plants. Merely stick your plants through the holes in the milk crate/box and cover with soil. If your milk box garden is to be used inside, then make sure to also line the milk box with plastic. This will keep the water from leaving the planter when you water the plants in doors.
Some of the plants that do really well in the milk box planter include nasturtiums, sweet potato vines, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. Almost anything that grows in a vine will grow well in a milk box planter, for indoor there are many vine plants such as philodendron that grow well.
Should you find the name on the milk crate not to your liking you can paint the crate any color to your liking. They make PVC paints that will cover the plastic box. Wood is no problem.
Happy gardening!
Bill
Bill McTurnal Enterprises
By bmcturnalin UncategorizedMarch 9, 2016435 WordsLeave a commentEdit
Container Gardening – “Garbage Can Gardening”


Container Gardening – “Garbage Can Gardening”
Want to have something green outside your house or apartment? Is size a problem for you? Would you like to grow something organic but you lack the appropriate space? Read this article; hopefully it will give you some ideas.
Gardens in a garbage can afford you the opportunity to grow the vegetables and/or flowers that you like anywhere. Space is not a problem. Whether you have a patio, balcony, or rooftop, you can still have a garden.
So, let’s get started. The first thing that you need is a small piano dolly. This costs about $10 at your local Harbor Freight or similar store. This will allow you to move your garden either outside, or back and forth inside and outside your home as the weather gets colder or warmer.
The next thing you will need is a garbage can. This must be plastic or polyethylene. Do not use galvanized trash cans. The galvanization is zinc. Plastic cans like those from your local bargain store are less than $10 (I find them locally at $8.95) and are light as well.
Once you have your dolly and you have your plastic trash can, you need to get some topsoil. If you have read some of my other blogs you will know the kind to get and what to look for. The topsoil should be organic, should have compost added with no sludge, and should have a proper pH. Of course the pH level depends to some extent on what you intend to grow. For instance citrus plants, blueberries and tomatoes require more acid than other plants. Of course if you get balanced pH topsoil you can always add fertilizer to make it more acidic or limestone to make it more alkaline. To fill your garbage can you will need approximately 6-8 cubic feet of topsoil, or 12-16 bags, depending on the size of your garbage can and the size of your bags of topsoil.
Building your garden is pretty simple. Poke some holes in the bottom of the garbage can for drainage, fill the first two inches with some washed stones, gravel, terracotta, pottery, broken bricks or concrete blocks. This will allow for drainage. Next, add some filter cloth. Any cloth will do as long as the unneeded water can pass through. This will prevent root rot. Now, fill your garden can up with the topsoil to within two inches of the top.
Now you can plant your favorite veggies or flowers, or a combination of both. I like to plant marigold with my vegetables, as those flowers help keep unwanted garden pests away, helping you maintain your garden free of pesticides, organic or otherwise. When I plant containers with mixed vegetables, I tend to plant the taller plants (such as tomatoes, pea, and beans) in the center on a trellis. I plant root vegetables (like beets, carrots and radishes) in the middle and vine plants on the outside. When you plant vines on the outside, they tend to drape over the sides, allowing picking very easily and making your garden very lush and green. Usually by July you will not be able to see the outside of the garbage can.
While planting, take into consideration how long it takes certain vegetables or flowers to grow. For instance, peas are planted in February when it I still cool and wet. Peas take about 75 days to harvest–about the same time you plant green beans. Radishes grow fast and you can harvest in usually 30-45 days. You can grow three crops in one season, so plant only a few, giving yourself more room for others or slower growing plants. Avoid vegetables that take up your whole garden, such as cabbage or cauliflower.
Insure that you have plastic on the floor of your house or apartment where you roll your garden during times of bad weather or at the end of the year. This will help protect your floor. Remember, if your plants turn brown, they don’t have enough water. If the leaves turn yellow, they have too much water. Once your plants are established and growing well, give them some organic time-release fertilizer. Enjoy your garden, have fun, and as always, Happy Gardening!