A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Above ground vegetable gardening

Hi I am very new here and I work with disabled adults, so they can live independent. I found some tomato cages, so they bought soil and tomato plants.
For one reason or another they can not garden in the ground, Also, they get $30.00 a week for food and spending. The budget is tight.
So, we went shopping for a container for the tomato plants and the most inexpensive container we could find was a five gallon paint bucket for $4.99. With the bucket, soil and plant, that came to about $10.00!
The container was placed on the small table in the back yard, which leaves very little room on the table for mixing more plants.
Also, for drainage, in the bucket, we drilled about 6 small holes in the bottom and placed some rocks, and coffee filters on top of the rocks so we wouldn't loose any soil.
They are so excited !!!!!
One of my questions is, how can we grow zucchini?

Next week, I think we will go to the library to research. But, how do we do this project inexpensivly? And, how about corn?

Thank you for any information you can give me. This is very important and exciting to my clients and myself.
Thanks Jazzie

Hi Jazzie,
I think what you do is wonderful....

And I'm makin' this a quick post, cause I gotta go, but I wanted to tell you to go to any restaurant, and ask for their buckets....
They are sure to have the five gallon FOOD GRADE buckets, and some places have alot...
Especially one's that might do BBQ sauce, pickles, ketchup... etc..

Also try your local grocery stores with Deli's..
or a regular deli shop...cause they get pickle buckets...

Also, find some of your Landscapers in town...
***The one's that would do large projects and maybe even for the richer type cliental...***
They would have large pots/containers for larger trees and such when they do a job.. most throw them to the curb/garbage cause in that industry they can't reuse them...

Pleasssssssssssssssssssse keep us posted with your work... we absolutely love, love, love hearing about things like this...
Projects and People....

Jazzie...Welcome to the forum!
I find the whole issue of gardening with disabilities very interesting.
First off, let me say that before you spend money on anything, ASK, ASK and ASK! You'll find that the folks here have endless ideas they love to share. For instance, no reason to buy 5 gallon buckets. There are threads about getting such things free in the Frugal Gardening forum. Call around to bakeries, especially in grocery stores, or better yet, talk to the people who work there in person...that way they're more likely to want to be helpful. They get frosting in 3 and 5 gallon buckets that they often throw away.
zucchini grow very well when trained up strings or a trellis of any kind, and are perfect for harvesting from a wheelchair or without bending over.
You may be able to get Lowe's, Wal-Mart or any of those places to give you broken bags of soil for cheap or for free.
Corn might be a little more tricky. I suppose it could be grown in containers, but you need lots of space for it. You might get 2 to 3 plants to a bucket, but that's pushing things, and you'd need at least 4 or 5 such buckets for that as corn need lots of "neighbors" for good pollination.
You've come to the right place for info.! These folks will be jumping to answer your questions!

Hi, Thank you so very much for the information.
I have three clients and they all live seperatly, so we go to the grocery stores all the time. We will check out the bakery next week.

Thank you again

jazzie

Hello to all from the Southern Oregon Coast. I have been surfing and surfing for tips on gardening with disabilities.
Just a tip I found that beats the five gallon buckets...I buy the 18 gallon totes..they are not as easy to tip over as the buckets.

cardo

Cardo, Where did you find them???????

Good Morning

You can find the totes (plastic storage boxes) at most stores like walmart lowes home depot. I usually get mine in January when the sales are on.Sometimes Fred Meyers sell them buy one get one free. Usually $4.99 each so thats $2.50 each. I want more this year as the ground keeps getting harder and harder to get down to.

Cardo

I hear you on that...

Here's another idea for a "raised bucket" too...