EXPANDING THE CONCEPT FOR WHAT YOU CAN GROW IN A FIVE-GALLON BUCKET.

You don’t need a lot of space to grow vegetables—even if you live in an apartment or townhome and only have a patio or small deck with good sun.  Our great Okra experiment has proven that you can grow a considerable amount of Okra in only six five-gallon pots (plastic buckets from your local hardware store).  So far, we have raised 19 pounds of Okra this way for a current total market value of $87.00.  You could also grow many other vegetables from a five-gallon bucket.

Next on my list will be potatoes that are not sweet potatoes.  A few years ago, I grew non-sweet potatoes but it was such a production I didn’t do it again.  It involved getting chicken wire and stakes to make a tower, then buying straw to line the wire sides and filling with soil as the vine grew.  I think it will be much easier and less expensive to grow the potatoes out of a five-gallon bucket.

1.    Step 1: Choose Seed Potatoes (from a nursery or online seed company.  (Don’t use those from the grocery store as they have often been treated with chemicals.)

2.    Step 2: Separate the Eyes. ...

3.    Step 3: Cure the Cut Pieces. (Let pieces dry out for a day)

4.    Step 4:  Put about 7 to 8 inches of soil in bottom of bucket and plant eyes

5.    Step 5:  Plant two per five-gallon bucket and then weed out the weaker one when the leaves appear.

6.    Step 6:  Once stem is about 6 inches or so, add soil to top of leaves.

7.    Step 7:  Continue doing so until soil is at the top of the pot.

8.    When leaves are totally dead, dump the bucket on a tarp and sort out your treasure.

NOTE: Some stores carry vinyl bags designed to grow potatoes.  I tried one in 2019 for sweet potatoes that even had a clever trap door for harvesting.   The sweet potato vine died in the bag half-way through the season.  I have had no luck growing things including tomatoes out of vinyl bags but to each his own.  You may have a different experience.

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LOTS OF TIME TO PLANT A FALL GARDEN IN GARLAND

This morning I’ve been reviewing all the edibles that we can plant for a fall garden.  Here is a list and plant by dates:

Snap Bush Beans September 1

Lima Bush Beans August 20

Beets October 15

Brussels sprouts. Sept1

Cabbage Sept 1

Carrots November 10

Cauliflower (transplant) Sept 1

Swiss Chard Oct 1

Collards October 10

Sweet corn August 20

Cucumber Sept 1

Kohlrabi Sept 10

Lettuce October 10

Mustard November 1 

Okra August 1

Onion (seed) Nov 1

Parsley October 10

Potato Sept 1

Radish Nov 25

Spinach Nov 15

Summer squash Sept 10

Winter squash Aug 10

Turnip November 1