I've used a trug bucket to store soil ingredients over the winter, and it's gotten filled with water and frozen without appearing to suffer. If you're concerned about the sun degrading the bucket and making it brittle for when you need to move the bucket next, shade it with whatever cheap light-blocking thing you have lying around.

I should think the bucket itself will stand up to the evenly-distributed press of soil and plant. The handle, on the other hand, is a major weak point and its presence should be ignored as much as possible.

There are lots of containers in that size range that are lighter in color (to reduce passive solar heat gain). I'd look for one - but not a clear one - clear is worse than black for heat gain.

Al

Marinewifenc,

I have used the dark blue and the red in these containers and they do not hold up in full sun. The red were brittle and cracking after one season of use (Virginia). The blue appeared to last but after the summer and then winter outside - the blue became very brittle and cracked just like the red. If you can find Rubbermaid containers they will last at least 3 seasons (mine have). 3 years ago I purchased some 18/20 gallon rope bucket containers from the Home Depot they came with a lifetime warranty and were available in grey and pale blue -- alas, the HD no longer carries them in my neck of the woods.

One last thing -- that price of $9+ dollars is too high. Most places have the same rope buckets for about $6 - $7 dollars.

Cheers,
DL

I agree with the rubber maid type containers-I have a whole bunch of them and although eventually (this is my 4th year) they get a little brittle, if you don't try to move them they are perfectly fine.
I got a bunch of them when they were on sale and used a sturdy knive to cut some drainage wholes.

We use a couple of tubs from walmart, but not the ones that you show. Set them up last year, and they're still in good shape. We actually want to get a couple more in smaller sizes. Don't remember the price of this, but at the time I considered it cheap for a 30gal container. I did check 1st, to make sure the plastic was okay for growing veggies in....

Re: container colours

Why the heck is black the standard non-terracotta colour for pots?

Sutremaine, I would guess that black pots are cheaper to manufacture then other colors? I've heard that you can spray paint them with something like "Plastikote", but we haven't tried it.