5 Gallon Bucket Gardening: Food from Plastic Buckets (2024)

FAQs

Is it safe to grow vegetables in plastic buckets? ›

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.

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.

Can You Store Food in Regular Buckets? Just because you can, doesn't mean that you should—many 5 gallon buckets are made out of food grade plastics, but not all of them. If the bucket that you want to store food in doesn't have the proper code on it, then you should not store food in it.

The Benefits of Using 5-Gallon Buckets

The standard size of these buckets allows for at least two tomato plants per bucket. This makes them an efficient use of space in small gardens or balcony spaces.

Home Depot Homer buckets are great for holding lots of things, but they're not food-grade.

The best things to grow in buckets are tomatoes and peppers, which will yield the most in relation to the space and value of the crop. Make sure you use food-grade buckets and drill drainage holes in the bottom.

Tomatoes grow nicely in 5-gallon buckets (both Determinate and semi-Determinate tomato cultivars.) This way of growing tomatoes is ideal for DIY garden containers and small spaces. Fill your drilled bucket with potting soil, add your fertilizer, and plant the tomato half the height of their main stem.

The best way to determine if your bucket is food grade is to purchase a bucket that is specifically designated as a food grade bucket, or check for a food grade plastic symbol on the bottom—this symbol looks like a cup and fork, indicating that it is safe to store food in.

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! Here are tips on how many plants to grow in each bucket.

How can you tell if plastic is food grade? ›

You should see the classic recycling symbol with a number inside of it. Generally, food grade plastics will be labeled with either 1, 2, 4, or 5. These refer to polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

Two or three plants will fit in a five-gallon bucket or grow one cucumber in a 10-inch-wide container. Mix soil with equal parts of compost, potting soil, perlite and peat moss. The compost or rotted manure will get plants off to a good start, or blend in granules of a balanced fertilizer, such as 10-10-10.

Planting peppers in 5 gallon buckets

A ¼” drill bit works well. 2) Fill with standard garden or potting soil. Do not use filler such as rocks or styrofoam at the bottom. The pepper plant will need all the soil in the bucket.

In general, determinate tomatoes tend to do better in pots, so look for those. It's also possible to grow indeterminate tomatoes in containers, of course, as long as you provide enough support and soil volume.

Two or three plants will fit in a five-gallon bucket or grow one cucumber in a 10-inch-wide container. Mix soil with equal parts of compost, potting soil, perlite and peat moss.

Type 5 - Polypropylene

Plastic marked with a 5 is made of Polypropylene. Commonly used in products that require injection molding like straws, bottle caps, or food containers. While it's not as universally tolerant to heat as HDPE or LDPE, it generally is safe for use with food and the garden.

A vast majority of plastic buckets that are sold for food storage purposes will be made of HDPE. It's important to note that not all HDPE buckets are food grade; to be sure, you'll want to look for the cup and fork logo (described below) or other indication of “food safe” or “food grade” materials.