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I have a question regarding the two bucket system. I have the 5 gallon bucket on top and the 3 1/2 gallon bucket on the bottom. I am trying to calculate how much potting mix goes into each bucket. How many buckets does a 2 cubic ft bag of potting mix fill, the one bucket design does not use as much potting mix I don't believe so that would not be a fair estimate.
joy
Degarotty, et al,
eBuckets is simply a new twist on an old theme. Basically, it's a 5-gallon bucket (or other container), that has a built-in water reservoir. Once your veggie (or plant) is planted in the container, there's a wicking action that provides constant water to the plant from the reservoir. The plants/veggies wick up the water as they want to or need to, so they're much happier plants! You can't over-water or under-water, as long as you keep the reservoir filled. Depending on the age of your plant, a seedling will cause the reservoir to need to be filled maybe once a week. As it gets bigger and demands more water, you might have to fill 2-3 times a week. When your plant/veggie is in full swing, you might have to fill the reservoir several times a day! But, that's down the line.
The system was designed to do what the $$$ patented Earthboxes do, but less expensively.
The eBucket system:
►is Cost effective (if you get a bucket for free, the wicking components will cost you approximately
$1.60/eBucket or less, cause you can find those for free, too!)
►is Efficient for those gardening in containers
►is Compact for those gardening in small spaces
►Offers portability (you can just move your eBucket with the sun patterns)
The link below will put you in the middle of a discussion a couple of us were having regarding how to go from a two-bucket system to a one-bucket system that could have a reservoir. Gessieviolet and Molamola brainstormed the concept. You can call them "research" and "design". After we all agreed the overturned colander in the bucket would work wonderfully well, they were content with having come up with the idea. I, on the other hand, was smack dab in the middle of my planting season, without a single raised bed or any other place to plant my seedlings, and opportunity was knocking. So, I picked up the design ball and constructed approximately 20 eBuckets for my very first container garden. By the end of that growing season, I knew the system so well, I was dubbed the "eBucket guru!" I like to think of myself as "Implementation," in the entire eBucket process.
This link will lead you to another gardening website, where I have posted a step-by-step pictorial tutorial on how to construct an eBucket!
Lemme know if you need any help. I'm desperately trying to get a raised bed built for the 150+ cole crop seedlings I have going, and if it isn't in place by October 1st, I'll be doing an eBucket garden this season, using approximately 48 eBuckets. So, I'll be on call to assist in any way I can.
