"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Dave" contains these words:

Just picked up my usual 5 growbags from local diy store and noticed
they are
thinner, ie: less volume. So I went around my local farms and
collected some
vitamin tubs that the farmers use for feeding cattle, called "cow
lick" or similar.
They are pretty big and a single grow bag barely fills 2 of them. My
question is
do I need to drill holes in these tubs?

Yes. Otherwise there will be stagnant water in the base, inviting
rot. Growbags also need a drainage hole spiked in them.

I have managed without drainage holes - but mainly in high summer when too
much rain is not an issue.

This is when I know that my dodgy gardening will mean that I let the pots
dry out, then need to add loads of water because I will be away for a few
days etc.

Not the best way to water, but better than the plants snuffing it.

To get over the problem of re-wetting dry compost I mix in a bag of JI No.3
(or bags of topsoil if I can't get JI No. 3) with a larger amount of
compost. I tend to lob a bag of farmyard manure in as well.

This give a reasonable amount of 'wetable' addition to the mixture.

HTH
Dave R

P.S. Suffolk is very dry anyway - you may have problems if you are on the
we(s)t side of the island.