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| (cross posted from Frugal gardening)
I recently realized that a lot of restaurants and grocery stores routinely go through plastic buckets of various sizes. Restaurants get pickles in these buckets and just yesterday I got a bucket from the bakery department of a grocery store that had held frosting. These buckets aren't reused and are probably thrown away (or hopefully recycled). But I think if you ask for them, they are yours. I'd like to plant carrots in it, but I'm not sure how best to clean it. I don't really want to have to scrub it with soap and water if I don't have to. Can I just plant in it and let the soil deal with it? I don't think that fat & sugar are particular favorites of worms or composting microorganisms. Or can I just let it sit outside and let acid rain deal with it? Additional question for you composters: this bucket has a lid - what other uses can you dream up for these kind of buckets? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I'm considered a bucket nut! I have MANY and they get used for everything. Bird seed, plants when I'm moving things around, extra dirt, rock, sand for when I'm doing a project. As for getting the frosting out, I think if you just let some soapy water sit in it for a couple of hours, the icing should just hose right out. Val |
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| I'm also a bucket nut, because I have dozens of them. I picked most of mine up while working at a high school (I'm an electrician). The have pallets and pallets of 5g buckets of wax stripper and floor wax. They also have a garbage can washer that you set the cans upside down on top of, clamp down, and turn on. It blasts the inside with high powered jets of water. It workes great with buckets too. Now obviously everyone doesn't have this available, but I would suspect a nose nozzle on jets mode would work ok, as would a pressure washer. As for other uses, Val pretty much sums it up. I have many of buckets at any givin time with something in it, from dirt, rocks, weeds, mulch, firepit ashes, you name it. So, add schools to the list of places to get free buckets. You can never have too many buckets! Joe |
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| One of our local grocery stores used to sell plastic buckets for $1 each and we've bought many. Used to use them for feeding grain to livestock but I now use them for making alfalfa tea. Also good as a garden waste bucket. I'd scrub out that bucket with soap and water. Goodness knows what noxious chemicals are in frosting! LOL maybe! ;-D |
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- Posted by tn_gardening (My Page) on Mon, Aug 15, 11 at 7:15
| I would think that you could simply make a batch of compost tea and let the microbes eat away at the frosting rather than scrubbing them down. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Mon, Aug 15, 11 at 12:01
| I get them from all over, including the dairy, curbside on trash day, dumpsters, etc. I use them for everything under the sun - most of the ones listed above, plus, of course, the lazy man's winter compost bucket outside the back door, which saves a lot of trips to the bin in nasty weather. Good luck on your carrot growing. A little food residue won't hurt a thing. |
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| Lots of uses for 5 gallon buckets. I like to stash them near where they will be needed such as near water sources, near the wood chip pile that I draw from, places where I'd like to collect a little rain water, places where I'd like to scoop up some mud or leaves or whatever, to cover a new transplant from July sun (tilted slightly to allow for some ventilation), temporary storage for soil when digging little holes, just to mark a spot for any purpose like safety cones, etc. They can be used for various types of composting of course (worms, anaerobic, aerobic, in-ground digester, etc.) and you can punch holes in the lid and make poor man's watering cans or in the bottom and make poor man's drip irrigation. |
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| Thanks for all the answers! I'm heartened by responses from tn_gardening and toxcrusadr that I don't really need to scrub them. We had a ton of rain over the weekend and the bucket is fairly clean already. I'm going to do some mini-container composting in it over the winter and get right at it in the spring with some carrots. |
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| I have two buckets made into cordless drill holders, with holes at bottom for nail and screw compartments. One has a comfortable plastic cover to sit on, the other has a wood top I made. One bucket has small holes on sides, near bottom. This serves for watering a small area in a even manner. Other buckets hold compost, dirt (courtesy of mole), all kinds of wood odds and ends. At times they might serve as stands when painting (upside down). One bucket holds garden tools, another holds regular tool with the aid of a Sears tool apron made for the purpose. For waste baskets, I prefer the larger 100# HTH cans, they are lite and have a screw on top. |
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| If you live in or near South Carolina, I can get you 10-20 Green 5gallon bucket, maybe a 30 or 55 gallon plastic drum. If you put it in a bag, then you can put it in a bucket. I use them as growing pots(drill 1/2 inch holes in the sides. Use it as a time release water bucket( drill #45 or smaller drill bit size hole in it & it will take hours to run out of water). |
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