Is It Safe to Grow Vegetables in 5 Gallon Buckets? (2024)

FAQs

Is It Safe to Grow Vegetables in 5 Gallon Buckets? ›

For 5 gallon bucket gardening, seek out smaller-saturated vegetable varieties. Growing tomatoes in buckets can be a great place to start—such as small patio tomatoes or cherry tomatoes. You can also grow a variety of herbs in a 5 gallon bucket, such as basil or dill.

If you have five-gallon buckets from the hardware store, they make great planters for larger vegetables such as tomatoes or pole beans. Just drill holes in the bottom. And make sure that you don't overplant!

In a 5-gallon bucket you can grow: • 1 tomato, pepper or zucchini, or • 3-4 lettuce, or • 1 cabbage or broccoli (with 15 radishes or 8 spinach), or • 15 carrots or beets, or • 6 bulbing onions, garlic or leeks, or • 8 mustards or turnips for greens.

Home Depot Homer buckets are great for holding lots of things, but they're not food-grade. Yes, these buckets are made from HDPE (high density polyethylene) and have a #2 recycling symbol.

Avoid containers that might contain toxic substances, e.g., treated wood or plastic buckets that may have stored chemicals. Satisfactory containers include plastic or fiber nursery pots; wooden bushel baskets; plastic, metal or wooden buckets; milk cartons - even plastic bags and recycled cardboard boxes.

So, are all 5 gallon buckets food grade? In short, no. Food grade buckets are made with special materials to ensure that the food remains untainted and unspoiled.

Black plastic can actually act as a solar collector, heating up the potting medium to plant damaging levels. If plants in dark colored plastic containers wilt quickly, check to make sure the plants are well watered then move them to a shadier location where heat build-up should not be a problem.

Vegetables and Herbs to Grow in Buckets

Plant cole crops including cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower one to a 5-gallon bucket. Lettuce and other greens with shallow roots grow easily in 2-gallon buckets. Annual herbs along with a few perennials can be seeded or planted in 2-gallon buckets.

Ideal pots are a foot or more in depth, and that size will increase your harvest. A pot that's 20 inches wide can accommodate four to six plants. Two or three plants will fit in a five-gallon bucket or grow one cucumber in a 10-inch-wide container.

How do I know if a bucket is food safe? ›

Look for a label that indicates that the bucket is food grade. Many buckets that are safe to use for food storage will have a marking that says “Food Grade” or “Food Safe” on the plastic. Check the bucket for a marking that says it's safe for food. Look near the recycling and plastic symbol on the bottom of the bucket.

Look for pots labeled as food-safe or made from HDPE (high-density polyethylene) which is considered safe for food contact. Avoid using pots that may leach harmful chemicals into the soil. It's also a good practice to ensure proper drainage and consider recycling or reusing pots to minimize environmental impact.

Thankfully for them, potatoes live well in containers, grow bags (like Root Pouch grow bags), pots, buckets, or in the ground. If you're interested in growing potatoes, but you're not sure if it's right for you, cultivating potatoes in a 5-gallon bucket is a great way to experiment.

Yes, it is perfectly safe to grow vegetables in a food-grade 5 gallon bucket!

This is more of a risk if you're storing liquids in your plastic than if it's just simply touching soil. Remember, leaching requires the presence of moisture; soil allows excess moisture to drain away from the plastic and out whatever drainage holes are present.

Select An Adequate Container

Plastic or clay pots, buckets, baskets, and wooden boxes are suitable for most vegetables. Plastic tubs and garbage barrels provide space for roots of rank-growing vegetables, such as cucumbers and tomatoes.

The plastics that are already used for food storage tend to also be safe to garden with. Like its older cousin, HDPE, LDPE plastic is very safe in a wide range of temperatures and can even be used in the microwave. You're likely to find LDPE in your garden in the hoses you use to water.

You could even use a larger can as long as you provide each plant with 5 gallons of water per week. For instance if you use a 5 gallon bucket and plant 2 tomato plants around it you fill the 5 gallon bucket 2 times per week. Or a 13 gallon can filled twice yields 26 gallons, so you could plant up to 5 plants around it.

These kitty litter containers are perfect to re-purpose into a container garden! Not only did they previously hold food grade safe material, they are around 5 gallons in total volume, which can support the growth of most plants.