Tomatoes, Cukes in plastic well

Mar 06, 2007 4 Replies
A

Andy asks



This year I am planting my tomatoes and cucumbers (North Texas) In little plastic wells so I can more selectively apply water during our drought... What I am doing is to cut the bottoms out of the plastic buckets of about 6-8 inches diameter and put them in the ground, filling them with good dirt and leaving about 2 inches vacant between the top of the soil inside them and the rims.... The top of the soil in the plastic bucket is about even with the outside soil, so the "rim" is about 2 inches above the terrain.



In this way I can water the "well" with about 2 inches, which will soak down into the root area... I am also surrounding the outside of the plastic well with about



2 inches of leaf mulch...

Has anyone else tried this and did you have positive results ?



Andy in Eureka, Texas



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P

No, but I'll be very interested in yours. It's a neat idea.

Penelope

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A

Andy writes Well, my area of Texas is in the middle of the longest drought in recorded history. Water has become very expensive, and selective watering seems like a good idea..

My tomato plants last year only grew to about 2 feet high. Plenty of tomatoes, but it didn't seem reasonable to water a LARGE space to give moisture to the roots. And , when I pulled up the plants, the roots didn't go more than a foot or two.. We seem to have different soils and growing styles......

Thanks for your input... If I ever find myself in sandy soil and have unlimited cheap water, I'll probly do the same as yourself....

Andy in Eureka, Texas

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