Hello,

I am new to this group, so please forgive me if this has been
discussed before.

I have come to the conclusion that the one best place I can put my
garden is on my deck. I do not need a really large garden, just a few
tomato plants, some lettuce, a pepper plant or two, etc. As such, I
tried a self-watering pot this summer on my deck. It more-or-less
worked pretty good. But I am perplexed. It seems that somehow the
soil sits on top of a grided plastic shelf (for lack of a better term)
and the plants above stay watered. I contend that if there were some
sort of wick, the system would work better. Nonetheless, it seemed to
work pretty well and I got a lot of tomatoes off the one plant I had
in the pot.

As a result, I thought I would build my own planters. Maybe one to
start. I was going to use a Rubbermaid plastic container that is
fairly shallow but holds eight gallons of water for my experiment.
The container is about 42" x 21" (forgive me but I do not remember
the depth--it was about 4"-5"). I will put this in a box that is made
of composite lumber. I was thinking about using a bulk head fitting
to drain the container in the winter. Inside the box, I thought I
could put a row of 1x2 just above the plastic container. I would then
build a screen using galvanized steel mesh wire using a mesh small
enough to keep the soil out of the water. In lieu of that, I would
put a piece of screen on top of the mesh.

Do you think this design would work? Do you think a wick of some sort
would help? If so, what material would be best? An old T-shirt?
Strips of old towel? Nothing?

Or would this be a stupid idea?

Any and all comments welcome!

In article
,
wrote:

Hello,

I am new to this group, so please forgive me if this has been
discussed before.

I have come to the conclusion that the one best place I can put my
garden is on my deck. I do not need a really large garden, just a few
tomato plants, some lettuce, a pepper plant or two, etc. As such, I
tried a self-watering pot this summer on my deck. It more-or-less
worked pretty good. But I am perplexed. It seems that somehow the
soil sits on top of a grided plastic shelf (for lack of a better term)
and the plants above stay watered. I contend that if there were some
sort of wick, the system would work better. Nonetheless, it seemed to
work pretty well and I got a lot of tomatoes off the one plant I had
in the pot.

As a result, I thought I would build my own planters. Maybe one to
start. I was going to use a Rubbermaid plastic container that is
fairly shallow but holds eight gallons of water for my experiment.
The container is about 42" x 21" (forgive me but I do not remember
the depth--it was about 4"-5"). I will put this in a box that is made
of composite lumber. I was thinking about using a bulk head fitting
to drain the container in the winter. Inside the box, I thought I
could put a row of 1x2 just above the plastic container. I would then
build a screen using galvanized steel mesh wire using a mesh small
enough to keep the soil out of the water. In lieu of that, I would
put a piece of screen on top of the mesh.

Do you think this design would work? Do you think a wick of some sort
would help? If so, what material would be best? An old T-shirt?
Strips of old towel? Nothing?

Or would this be a stupid idea?

Any and all comments welcome!

I recommend making your own mistakes.

Bill who sees nothing wrong with nothing.

...............

http://www.containergardeningtips.com/

http://www.csuohio.edu/history/shiga96/pages/gpln.html

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA
"Energy is the only life and is from the Body and Reason is the bound
or outward circumference of Energy.
Energy is Eternal Delight"
William Blake

On 1/1/2008 7:29 AM, wrote:
Hello,

I am new to this group, so please forgive me if this has been
discussed before.

I have come to the conclusion that the one best place I can put my
garden is on my deck. I do not need a really large garden, just a few
tomato plants, some lettuce, a pepper plant or two, etc. As such, I
tried a self-watering pot this summer on my deck. It more-or-less
worked pretty good. But I am perplexed. It seems that somehow the
soil sits on top of a grided plastic shelf (for lack of a better term)
and the plants above stay watered. I contend that if there were some
sort of wick, the system would work better. Nonetheless, it seemed to
work pretty well and I got a lot of tomatoes off the one plant I had
in the pot.

As a result, I thought I would build my own planters. Maybe one to
start. I was going to use a Rubbermaid plastic container that is
fairly shallow but holds eight gallons of water for my experiment.
The container is about 42" x 21" (forgive me but I do not remember
the depth--it was about 4"-5"). I will put this in a box that is made
of composite lumber. I was thinking about using a bulk head fitting
to drain the container in the winter. Inside the box, I thought I
could put a row of 1x2 just above the plastic container. I would then
build a screen using galvanized steel mesh wire using a mesh small
enough to keep the soil out of the water. In lieu of that, I would
put a piece of screen on top of the mesh.

Do you think this design would work? Do you think a wick of some sort
would help? If so, what material would be best? An old T-shirt?
Strips of old towel? Nothing?

Or would this be a stupid idea?

Any and all comments welcome!

Just be careful you are not putting too much weight on your deck,
especially all in one spot. Using the Rubbermaid container, 8 gallons
of water weighs 64 pounds; add the dry weight of the container and soil.
One such planter is likely to be okay.

Also, if the deck is wood, be sure that the container is raised so that
air circulates underneath. Otherwise, you risk rot.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/

On Jan 1, 4:08*pm, "David E. Ross" wrote:


Just be careful you are not putting too much weight on your deck,
especially all in one spot. *Using the Rubbermaid container, 8 gallons
of water weighs 64 pounds; add the dry weight of the container and soil.
*One such planter is likely to be okay.

Also, if the deck is wood, be sure that the container is raised so that
air circulates underneath. *Otherwise, you risk rot.


David,

My deck is pretty low to the ground but not much. I have to go up
three steps to get on it. And it is more-or-less overbuilt, so I am
not worried about putting too much weight on it.

The deck is wooden but I am also thinking about putting this container
on wheels, thus elevating it a little above the deck. I will
reinforce the bottom of the frame with angle iron if it seems like it
is a little shaky.

Bill--I do not necessarily understand your answer. I know you are
trying to say that I need to experiment and learn from my mistakes but
if this is a really stupid idea, I would be foolish to not listen to
people who know more than I do! So if you see a problem of some sort,
please let me know!

Thanks,
ray