My many uses for 5 gallon buckets.

I'd like to share my uses for 5 gallon buckets, and ask you how you use, or could visualize using them. There are a couple reasons that I gravitated toward these uses, one being that i cleared this garden area by cutting down trees, pulling up stumps, and fighting poison ivy, greenbrier, wild blackberries, poke salad, etc. A whole lot of volunteer growth, all the time. Second reason.... I'm lazy.
When I plant potatoes, as the vine comes out of the ground, I put a 5 gallon bucket with the bottom cut out over it and add about 6 inches of dirt/mulch. The potatoes set in the bucket, all I have to do is turn over the bucket, they're right there. no digging.
When I plant tomatoes, peppers, melons, etc, I use a 5-6" (more or less) section of a 5 gallon bucket, like a band or ring 5-6 inches high. Transplant into well turned dirt, center the bucket section around the plant. Mash down into the ground some. Add a little dirt as the plant grows. Top off with a couple inches of mulch. This way, when I water, the water stays in a circle defined by the bucket and goes straight into the root system instead of running down the hill. The mulch keeps the ground from drying out, and helps keep down weeds in that area. As a result, I can weed-eat all around the garden without any fear of accidentally clipping one of my plants.
I make a small hole in the bottom corner of a bucket. Put that bucket hole near a fruit tree. In hot weather, I fill the 5 gallon bucket with water, and it slowly drains out the hole to run the entire 5 gallons exactly where I want it, instead of running across the top of the ground.
I take the 5 gal bucket, put 4 inches or so of gumballs (millions of gum trees here) in the bottom. fill to within a few inches of the top with good dirt, plant in that. Put some mulch on top of the dirt. When I water, any excess water can filter out but yet the gumballs will hold plenty of moisture. I use this a lot when I set stuff out early, so that, in the event of a hard freeze, I can take them inside. If you don't know what gumballs are, substitute mulch.
At the end of gardening season, I put chickens in the garden(entire garden is fenced in for deer and rabbits) I put roosts in my garden shed and use 5 gallon buckets screwed down to a log to raise the front, for my laying boxes.
Of course, I use buckets for mixing up chicken manure tea, carrying potatoes, tomatoes, etc. I mark them so I don't carry food in the chicken manure bucket, of course.
I also have 50 plastic food grade 55 gallon drums, 10 with screw tops, but haven't done anything with them yet. LOL. It'll come to me though.
So, what other uses do you guys have for 5 gallon buckets?

[GoatsRus]

Zong - wow thanks for the gumball idea. I hate those things. We live on an old nursery farm and we have a whole row of 30' sweet gum trees in the yard. Makes a nice privacy fence and great shade, but the balls are a PIA.

[Ladyhen]

Genius idea on the sweet gum balls! I'm planning to plant in a plastic container today and will have DD collect some for the bottom. I was going to use gravel.

[puddlejumper007]

thanks for the ideas....now if only i had more buckets....hee hee

[Chickadeedee]

Thanks for sharing all your uses. I might have a few if I could find enough buckets! I've tried lots of stores, etc. and they either recycle them or are out of them.

[ladycat]

What are sweet gum balls?

[Dandish]

Where do you get all those buckets?

Sweet gum balls are the empty seed pod of the sweetgum tree. they are about an inch in diameter, and spiky. Kind of honeycombed on the inside.

[ladycat]

Oh, ok. We don't have sweet gums around here, but I'm pretty sure I have seen those other places.

Originally Posted by Dandish

Where do you get all those buckets?

I put a notice on the bulletin board at a paint store that I wanted about a hundred 5 gallon buckets.

[airmont]

I don't know about other places, but in Knoxville,TN an ice cream place called Dippin' Dots sells their food grade 5 gallon buckets for $1.00 each.

[ladycat]

Originally Posted by airmont

I don't know about other places, but in Knoxville,TN an ice cream place called Dippin' Dots sells their food grade 5 gallon buckets for $1.00 each.

There's a locally owned restaurant here that gives them away, but you just about have to get in line. They have lots of them all the time, but they also have lots of people wanting them all the time. But I have managed to get a few dozen buckets from them.

[MushCreek]

Upside down, they also make a handy place to sit down after doing all of those garden chores!

[ladycat]

Originally Posted by MushCreek

Upside down, they also make a handy place to sit down after doing all of those garden chores!

They make a good step-ladder, too!

2 of them make a good short saw horse.

I have a hundred uses for them.

[LovPRQueen]

I use them to carry water out of the creek to water the garden. Then a place to sit. Whew!

[elkwc]

I plant my tomato transplants in post holes with the tops just at ground level and put 5 gal buckets around them. This serves as a windbreak and also limits the sun enough that I have went straight to the garden without hardening off with no trouble. You can put a cover on them when a cold spell is coming. I also direct plant seeds including tomatoes in them and put a clear plastic cover on top with a slit in it for ventilation to get an early start on the season. Serves as a mini greenhouse. Of course I use them for all the other many uses including feed buckets, to carry manure, fertilizers ect.. I buy them at auctions. Usually a few dollars for 5-10. Also farmers usually have them as oil comes in them. At work we get soap ect in them. I try to keep 75-100 around. They are very handy and the uses are only limited by your imagination. I also use the plastic coffee containers. They work well also. Jay

[Bluegirl]

I would like to try this. My 5 gallon buckets don't have lids though.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2198146_grow...to-garden.html

[COSunflower]

I have one in each of my yards where the dogs go...I line them with a plastic bag and set the pooper scooper beside it. Make sure you have a lid though.

[Tricky Grama]

Anyone ever used one w/o the bottom for a baffle under a bluebird box? No birds are making it to fledgling stage.

Patty

[NostalgicGranny]

We have a cat, so whenever I can I buy Lady's cat litter in those big buckets. They are about the size of a five gallon bucket.

We use them to store feed in. Pig feed, goat feed, corn, etc. It really helps to just be able to grab a bucket at feeding time, instead of going back and forth between the shed and the pen.

I've used them for mopping floors, soaking laundry. Hubby uses them to hold tools when he is working on the lawn tractor or car. He sometimes uses them to hold the parts he 'takes off' so they are all in one spot when he needs them. Washing the car.

We have one down at the pond with a rope tied around it, so we can fetch water. It becomes an extra fishing seat when we aren't using it.

I use an old sparklets type water bottle, but you could use a 5 gallon bucket . . . In the summer when it is so hot, and we need to fill the water buckets and troughs - - - I fill the bottle (bucket) with the hot water that comes out of the hose, and then fill the buckets with cool water. We were wasting so much water trying to get cool water. The next day I dump the water from the bottle or bucket into the water trough, and do it again. Surprisingly our water bill dropped about $30 a month after we started doing it this way.

I don't think a person could have too many of those buckets.