With growing season 'round the corner, thought I'd pass along something that might be a solution to some of your gardening woes.
Choate Machine & Tool, one of our long time sponsors, has a pretty cool, affordable take on the well proven bucket gardening concept--their VersaPot.
Bucket gardening has a bunch of benefits - the buckets are obviously moveable, usually weed-free, and, done well, you can ensure an optimal amount of water to the plant.
The fact that you can move 'em around is a big deal - you can grow stuff where you otherwise wouldn't be able to, scale up or scale down your garden as space allows. You can also control their exposure to weather - moving them into the sunlight, bringing them inside if a bad storm is brewing, etc.
The no-brainer ability to get the right amount of water to the plant is another big deal. Over/under watering is a pretty common mistake, and will kill plants or at least hamper production.
Yes, you can DIY up your own bucket planters by cutting down a bucket and drilling a bunch of holes in it, but that takes up time and gets you a DIY level end product. The VersaPot costs a little bit more than buying second bucket to cut apart ($8 a pop versus $4-$5 for a bucket), but it's ready to rock, much nicer and much less hassle. It also comes with the PVC pipe used for watering, and the plastic mesh cup used for watering. Add your own bucket and you're ready to plant.
Choate was kind enough to send me a package of these kits, which I'll be using in my gardening this year. I am a novice/lousy gardener at best, so don't expect magazine-quality results. But on the other hand, if I can have success with this setup, than you can too.
Stay tuned for more, or if you want to give 'em a try this season, hit up Choate and tell 'em T-Blog sent you.