What a great post idea! Just be aware that metal tubs can often overheat in the middle of summer, especially if the foliage isn't totally shading it. Painting them white can help.

The most classic option is overflowing petunias, and it's classic for a reason I think.

Chock full of flowering bulbs is another classic, though it might get expensive. A ring of tulips, then daffodils and hyacinth would be cool.

Something about those tubs makes me thing rosemary and thyme, though I have no idea why.

A succulent/cactus desert scene works so well in these. Horsetails are a more modern take, if you're into that.

Good luck!

"What a great post idea! Just be aware that metal tubs can often overheat in the middle of summer, especially if the foliage isn't totally shading it. Painting them white can help."

Actually I am looking for ideas and feedback from experienced container/sq ft gardeners. I was very pleased with my first and only ever container grown vegetable, an Aji Limo, this year. I don't have to grow in containers, I've bookoo garden space, but I do see some advantages to it such as fresh veggies and herbs right at my back door throughout the season ;-). It's fun because I pay closer attention to it, I think, if that makes sense.

I had thought about the metal and solar gain, and was actually considering a skirt of some kind on the sunny side. Thanks for the painting tip. I'll probably do that also. I believe these will be located all together in a row within about fifty ft of a 200+ gal rain trough at an out building, so it probably wouldn't be difficult for them all to share the same skirt. Also, I have total privacy here so I am not too concerned about 'looks'. Plant performance is my real interest right now.

"The most classic option is overflowing petunias, and it's classic for a reason I think.

Chock full of flowering bulbs is another classic, though it might get expensive. A ring of tulips, then daffodils and hyacinth would be cool."

Excellent. My wife loves flowers and may want to do this. She already has a flower bed up front, one out back, and a shady bed next to the cistern shelter. I can see her placing a tub of flowers at the back door.

"Something about those tubs makes me thing rosemary and thyme, though I have no idea why."

I do intend to plant some herbs, not sure which ones yet.

"A succulent/cactus desert scene works so well in these.
Horsetails are a more modern take, if you're into that."

She was raised in Scotsdale AZ and has prickly pear in the bed out back and other cacti spread about in containers already, surely she'll let me have this one! C'mon! :-)

I have rain troughs at three different locations to water container plants from.

Anyhoo, I'm pretty sure I'm going to devote one tub to pole beans for fresh eating for two. I'd appreciate ANY ADVICE/TIPS for growing pole beans in a 17 gal 24" dia x 11" deep container.

Imagine a cane teepee such as one of these assembled in the tub:

A = Pi x r squared

Area = 3.141593 x (1 x 1 ) = 3.141593 sq ft

The area of the 24" dia tub is Pi, or, 3.141593 sq ft.

How many pole bean plants could be grown on 3.14 sq ft of container space?

In what configuration should they be planted?

How much yield of, say Fortex beans, could one expect from a 17 gal 3.14 sq ft container?

I know this is totally not what your after, idea-wise... but if I had a few of those, and they were leaky anyway, I'd have my husband cut them down to about half height, and I'd sink them in the ground so only a few inches showed above the soil level, and I use them to corral my ornamental grasses!

As I'm sure you know, most grasses, ornamental or otherwise, can be very invasive and are fast growers, clumping up rather quickly. Keeping them from spreading out too much keeps the garden looking neat, and then all you have to do when they fill up is insert a shovel and cut up the clump, replanting the extras elsewhere.

Okay... sorry for the intrusion... that's the first thing that came to mind when I saw those awesome tubs! :-)

I was thinking about ornamental grasses as jodik just suggested.

For me, I would just leave them as they are...I like the look of metal tubs. I have more than dozen of taller buckets that used to be used to hang on the trees to collect maple syrup.
I did paint one, and put silver leaf on other one (for indoor use). Both look good; but I like best ones I didn't touch. Have some grasses (most of the 'mop-heads' since my containers are tall & skinny) and some echinaceas and mint planted in the rest of them, and one with hens-and-chicks.

Pole beans with teepee would look pretty good.
Or grow something like Malabar spinach on teepee, it has very nice red stems and it is edible.

I think they should be displayed as they are, I think they would repeat your rain through looks; grouped together by back door & on different level - just personal taste I guess...Rina

jodik-"I know this is totally not what your after, idea-wise... but if I had a few of those, and they were leaky anyway, I'd have my husband cut them down to about half height, and I'd sink them in the ground so only a few inches showed above the soil level, and I use them to corral my ornamental grasses!
As I'm sure you know, most grasses, ornamental or otherwise, can be very invasive and are fast growers, clumping up rather quickly. Keeping them from spreading out too much keeps the garden looking neat, and then all you have to do when they fill up is insert a shovel and cut up the clump, replanting the extras elsewhere.

Okay... sorry for the intrusion... that's the first thing that came to mind when I saw those awesome tubs! :-"

This no intrusion at all, it's exactly what I want to hear from the experienced container gardeners here! Thank you!

Question, would the top half (the ring w/o a bottom) that is cut off serve as a coral in itself? This would leave a shallow (about 5 1/2" deep) container to be used for something else? Or probably that's what you've already got in mind.

rina-"For me, I would just leave them as they are...I like the look of metal tubs. I have more than dozen of taller buckets that used to be used to hang on the trees to collect maple syrup.
I did paint one, and put silver leaf on other one (for indoor use). Both look good; but I like best ones I didn't touch. Have some grasses (most of the 'mop-heads' since my containers are tall & skinny) and some echinaceas and mint planted in the rest of them, and one with hens-and-chicks.

Pole beans with teepee would look pretty good.
Or grow something like Malabar spinach on teepee, it has very nice red stems and it is edible.

I think they should be displayed as they are, I think they would repeat your rain through looks; grouped together by back door & on different level - just personal taste I guess...Rina"

Rina, thanks much for your input, I'm just like you, I see a rustic beauty in the tubs just as they are (one of the reasons I scarfed them up), but I think greentiger87 makes a valid point concerning solar heat gain. The skirt I'm thinking of using (for shade) would only be on the sunny side and not really visible to the casual observer if all the tubs were placed in a row in the location I'm considering. Sounds uglier than it actually would be, I think. Anyway, the wife WON"T let me create an eyesore, I guarantee that.

Do your unpainted buckets get too hot in the sun? Is this a problem you think? Again, I'm like you, I would prefer them unpainted just as they are.

I've grown Malibar spinach years ago, out in the garden for summer greens and it did very well here, and it is a pretty vine. I'm not totally sold on pole beans, but, just to see, just to satisfy my curiosity, I would love to know what sort of yield in beans actually is possible from a tub this size, not too big (equipped w/ready made handles for two people to move it around) and it's definitely not too small for most container grown plants.

I make probably 40-45 gallons of beet kvass a year (in 3-5 gal batches) Wonder how much kvass I could make from one tub of beets? Takes about 6 medium beets to make a gallon.

I've read some good things about container grown yacon, anyone here ever grown it? I like growing new things.

So far I didn't have problems with plants in the buckets. Maybe they are more heat tolerant, or because they are in open area (not by a wall or other structure) and have good air ciculation around them.

I don't have idea about yield of beans from your tub, I never grown beans in container.

Is yacon also known as jicama?
Are the tubs deep enough to grow yacon?
Do you grow it from seeds?

Rina

A lot of ice and beverage of choice. ;-) keep handy while working on other garden chores. ;-)

Sorry.. but had to..lol..

On a more serious note.. If I could use something like that, I would use flower bulbs and have fun with color and the circle pattern. and Herbs! some tall woody in the center and small bushy around.

But it gets way too hot here to even consider these in summer.

You'll have to post pics when you have them planted! :-)

JoJo

Rina.....yacon is sometimes referred to as jicama....but that really sure makes it confusing. The two plants aren't related at all. Yacon is a member of the big Asteraceae (Compositae) family, while Jicama belongs to Fabaceae (Leguminocae). FYI

I really like Jicama but have never had yacon. It sounds interesting. I admit that I had to investigate beet kvass! 50 to 60 gallons?

"Question, would the top half (the ring w/o a bottom) that is cut off serve as a coral in itself? This would leave a shallow (about 5 1/2" deep) container to be used for something else? Or probably that's what you've already got in mind."

I'd use the top half to corral any invasive growers, like the ornamental grasses or whatnot... sinking the ring into the earth several inches should help keep most runners within that ring... and the bottom halves... hmmmm.

Well, with enough holes drilled for drainage, they'd make nice planters, though they'd be kind of shallow. They might make nice housing for succulent type plants that are usually shallow rooted and wouldn't require constant watering. Sedums come in a grand variety of colors, leaf shapes, and whatnot. There are a ton of creeping type annuals and perennials that would look nice... creeping Phlox, Thyme, annual Lobelia, and the list goes on...

Or, if you live rurally as I do, the bottom halves would make nice little watering holes for smaller livestock, like goats... or perhaps ducks or poultry. The used water from ducks and poultry makes excellent fertilized water for garden beds.

I'm sure there are many other things you could do with those tubs, whether you decide to keep them intact or cut them... endless possibilities! I haven't done it yet, but try Googling "garden uses for old washtubs" and see what comes up. You might be overwhelmed! :-)

Happy Growing!

Yacon is akin to sunchokes, evidently a big staple in parts of the Andes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Container Grown Yacon.

"I admit that I had to investigate beet kvass! 50 to 60 gallons?"

Heheh, I'm in the process of making a 5 gallon batch right now (beets purchased from WalMart & Kroger). I use a 6 gallon primary wine fermenter to make it in, and I make it stout (high lactic acid content) so that it will store at room temp. I can't sing the praises of beet kvass enough, in short, it truly is a very beneficial beverage for health, and a delicious thirst quencher too, and, I'm not the only one that I make it for.

Anybody wants to know more about kvass I'll be glad to tell ya about it. :-)

Photo, bottling some a few weeks ago.

Hey JoJo, thanks for commenting,

"...Herbs! some tall woody in the center and small bushy around."

I think my wife intends to copy our daughter who grows her herbs at her back door in a water trough like the one I pictured above.

"But it gets way too hot here to even consider these in summer."

I do intend to take precautions against solar gain; I'm leaning now towards some sort of insulating material between the potting soil and outside walls, maybe even a layer of cardboard would suffice here at my locatity.

"You'll have to post pics when you have them planted! :-)"

I'll try! (to remember)

Larry

"How many pole bean plants could be grown on 3.14 sq ft of container space?"

"Wonder how much kvass I could make from one tub of beets?"

Using "Plant spacings in a Square Foot Garden", I'll answer my own questions.

At 8 plants per sq ft - at least 24 pole bean plants could be grown in one of these tubs. Trellising that many would probably present a problem though.

At 16 plants per sq ft - at least 48 beets could be grown in one of these tubs - or, around 6 gallons of (high quality) kvass from one tub. Hmmmm

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant spacings in a Square Foot Garden