"Sue" wrote:

You could build your pretty box to hide a bunch of those white plastic
buckets. In fact, I've been thinking of that myself... got a few and could
get a few more.
The mortar mixers look too shallow for anything but herbs.

I'm thinking leaf lettuce, onions, carrots.

Richard Evans wrote:
"Sue" wrote:


You could build your pretty box to hide a bunch of those white plastic
buckets. In fact, I've been thinking of that myself... got a few and could
get a few more.
The mortar mixers look too shallow for anything but herbs.


I'm thinking leaf lettuce, onions, carrots.


I was just out at the Carolina Ale House on the by-pass in
Pittsboro. They have some fantastic looking planters but I
know they are not cheap. These things were big enough for trees.

Craig

I was just out at the Carolina Ale House on the by-pass in Pittsboro.
They have some fantastic looking planters but I know they are not cheap.
These things were big enough for trees.

Craig

Sorry, that was Carolina Brewery and Grill. (great food
first time).

Craig

Plain old pine boards are cheap, and will last a long time if you
paint them. Works for us.



On Apr 10, 4:22*pm, Craig Watts
wrote:
I was just out at the Carolina Ale House on the by-pass in Pittsboro.
They have some fantastic looking planters but I know they are not cheap..
These things were big enough for trees.

Craig

Sorry, that was Carolina Brewery and Grill. (great food
first time).

Craig

On 2009-04-07, Richard Evans wrote:
Craig Watts wrote:

Richard Evans wrote:
I'd like to build my own wooden containers for growing vegetables. I
know you can't grow edibles in containers made from pressure treated
lumber, but are there other options?

I suppose I could just use pine and discard it when it rots, but how
about pine painted with exterior stain or other preservative?

How about plywood (non-PT)? Is it safe?



Have you seen the display outside at Logan's. They use
cinder blocks and it is pretty impressive.


I guess I should have qualified my question: I'm not doing raised
beds, I'm building standalone containers to set on my deck. Literally
wooden pots of varying sizes.

You need something rot resistant. Cypress or cedar would be two
choices. Plywood will not work as it will delaminate from moisture.
Marine plywood might be ok, but I think you would have to paint it and
that opens other contamination issues.

One thought might be to use PT lumber and line it with 20 mill pond
plastic. The drain holes would not allow too much chemican to migrate
upwards.

Very large decorative pots might work, but I hate the traditional pots
that taper downward. Something squarish with little taper on the sides
would be best. I see planting pots for tomatos in the garden catalogs,
but they are expensive.

The more I think about it, the more I think the 20 mil plastic with PT
boards is a good option. here is some info I found on PT wood. CCA has
been removed as a preservative and the new ones are "less bad".

http://www.al.com/hg/huntsvilletimes...oll=1#continue

Another option might be the composite decking like Trex and
equivalents. It is expensive but would last much longer so the longer
you use them the cheaper it gets. Could weight the cost diff between 20
mil and composite lumber.

I am late posting so you may have made a decision by now.
--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

is a garbage address.

On 2009-04-09, Richard Evans wrote:
KTTT wrote:


I was thinking about using 2x untreated pine lumber and cover the inside
with may be two layers of heavy plastic. The paint section in Lowes or
Home Depot has these plastic sheets in various thickness.

I thought about that, but you still have to have drain holes through
both the plastic and the wood and that would allow water to seep
between the plastic and the wood, eventually causing rot.

I think with some creativity of using some pvc pipe in the drains and
leaving an airspace below the planter and deck, you could minimize the
rot if not eliminate it. Or design the bottom to be replaced easily.
Putting a lip on the inside of the bottom you could set up for a drop
in bottom that is not even nailed or screwed.

Emptying the planters in winter and storing them would let them last
longer also.

I went to Lowe's yesterday to look for copper napthenate
preservatives, but apparently manufacturers are not required to list
ingredients on the cans. I called the 800 number for Thompson's and
they couldn't advise on toxicity, but did say their water sealer is
not suitable for ground-contact, which would include the inside of the
planter box.

So, I dropped that idea. My current plan is to buy plastic tubs used
to mix mortar. They are fairly large, deep, and cheap ($4.37 for the
one's at Lowe's). I plan to build a frame with legs and no bottom. I
can then just drop in the mortar box with the lip resting on the edge
of the frame. I can drill drain holes in the box, but with no bottom
in the wood frame that won't affect the wood. I can then paint the
frame any way I want because it won't contact the dirt.


Well, I abandoned the wooden container idea. It's just too much work to
build two dozens or so 2'x2' containers for me. I ended up with some
cheap plastic planters.

Yes, I'm using a lot of the cheap black nursery pots. They work fine
for one plant/one container plants like tomatoes, cabbage, head
lettuce etc. I also have a lot of plastic pails that originally
contained forty pounds of cat litter. A couple of drainage holes, and
they work fine too.

Now I need some long trays to plant seed crops like carrots and
onions.

I bought a child's wading pool at Wal-Mart: three feet in diameter, a
foot deep. Cost $10. That's going to be my strawberry patch.

I've already spent way more than I can possibly justify by any
vegetables I might harvest, but I figure this year I'm getting the
bugs out of the process and next year will be much cheaper.




--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

is a garbage address.

On 2009-04-09, Pat Barber wrote:
If you know any restaurant folks, most throw away
many five gallon buckets, which are ideal for plants.

I would recommend building sites, but I suspect that
is a thing of the past for quite a while.

A five gallon bucket with a few drilled drain holes
is excellent, but not very pretty.


Richard Evans wrote:

I guess I should have qualified my question: I'm not doing raised
beds, I'm building standalone containers to set on my deck. Literally
wooden pots of varying sizes.

What about those IBC's (intermediate bulk containers) sold for rainwater
collection? They must be about 4 foot cubes so one cut in half would
allow two large containers for planting that would be of sufficient
depth. They could be surrounded with wood to hide the white plastic.

They were pricey during the drought last year, but I bet the price has
dropped. Seems like they were about 30 bucks before the prices started
to rise. They are roughly a cubic yard which means they are probably 3
foot cubes so you could get two containers or 18 sqft of container that
is 18 inches deep.

Just a thought. Piedmont Biofuels Coop in Moncure sells them.

--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

is a garbage address.

Wes Dukes wrote:


I am late posting so you may have made a decision by now.

Yup, I'm pretty well done. I'll post some pix soon.

I never did build wooden containers.

I used a child's wading pool for a strawberry patch and some large
mortar-mixing tubs for various root crops like onions and carrots. I
found some nursery pots at Logan Trading, though their selection is
not great and they don't seem to be replenishing it as it sells. I
used those for "one plant/one container" items like tomatoes, peppers,
cabbage, head lettuce, etc.

Richard Evans wrote:

Wes Dukes wrote:


I am late posting so you may have made a decision by now.

Yup, I'm pretty well done. I'll post some pix soon.



Pix he

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2494371...7616765823916/

With Humidity soul, there is chances to grow vegetable....