Great ideas on the kitty litter jugs. Maybe I'll have to switch to an opaque litter for awhile. Mine are solid white. I threw the tops away and kept the bottom parts, which were about 5-6" high. I liked them because they were free for me, and everyone was saying that deeper was better when it comes to the soil. Plus, I'm a lazy gardener and figured they wouldn't dry out so fast if the soil was a bit deeper. That said, I only filled them about 3 1/2 to 4" with soil, because soil gets expensive. I did this: 1. I chopped the top 1/2 off by sending them through a tablesaw (with goggles on, 'cause some of the plastic does fly). 2. Used exact-knife to poke holes in bottom. 3. Filled with soil, moistened soil, sowed seeds and labeled. 4. I put all of them together outside in a wooden box frame that I happened to have which is about 10" deep. (Anything could be used..like a children's wading pool, for example. ) Then I covered that large box, edge to edge, with 2mm opaque plastic sheeting, poked vents in the plastic and attached the plastic with clamps. Occasionally, I'd have a problem with wind, but it was in a protected spot on east side of my house, so only had to re-clamp maybe 2 times. 5. When watering was needed, I just watered right over the sheet plastic and the water dripped through the little slits, just fine. Eventually, I added more vents as the weather warmed, and finally, I took the plastic off entirely. This worked great! I had like 30 of them. Each plastic kitty "flat" had 8 varieties of tomatoes. I sowed double seed in each of the 8 holes, so many times I ended up with a lot more than 8 plants in a "flat". I sold these "flats" for $5 each at the end of my driveway, with a sign. Honor system. They flew out...people got 8 to 14 tomato plants, for the most part. A great deal for them and I kept a bunch for myself and friends, and brought in about $100. I gave the buyers a little sheet that said what kind they were...I had put numbers with a sharpie all the way around the outside so I'd know which variety was which. Since the flats were all snuggled tightly side by side for just a few months, the sharpie numbers managed to hold up through the sale time. This year, I'm going to make 2-plant "flats" with styrofoam mushroom containers that we get from the grocery. I have the 8 oz mushroom size, which I'll put 2 maters in, and the 16 oz, which I'll try and do 4 maters in. After all, a lot of people don't need 8-14 tomato plants! I have some wooden benches...I'm going to place them 5' apart, fill in between with all of my flats, and then cover with the plastic sheeting, bench to bench. Put bricks on plastic sheeting, and voila! Mini winter-sowing greenhouse, easy style. At first, I'll probably put the benches close enough together so that the plastic sits directly on the rims of the "flats". But later, if I need more circulation, I'll just move the benches out a bit..and because of their height, it will lift the plastic up and allow for more air circulation. Hope that makes sense.

Ah, well, it seems I have survived the composting process myself! Anyway, for a cheap source of compostable litter, get 40 lb bags of stove pellets for wood burning stoves. It is about $4 a bag, as opposed to $8 for a 7lb bag of FelinPine®. As for toxoplasmosis, it is not pregnancy that is the issue, per se, rather it is only a VERY small time window (two weeks in the first trimester) during which the disease is transmittable to the fetus, and ONLY if the mother has not had prior exposure. And ONLY if the mother has a new cat, who ALSO has not been previously exposed, because th organism is only present in the feces during a brief window after initial exposure. I.e. it is almost impossible to get the toxoplasmid from cat feces. In fact, a study of the organism had to be scrapped and totally redesigned, because it was based on a sample population of cat owners, assuming they would harbor the organism. Instead, they found that there was no evidence that ANYONE had EVER contracted toxoplasmosis through this vector. Instead, they found that the vast majority of cases (close to 100%) resulted from pica.

Patty, I've done it and it works just fine. The kitty litter buckets are a great size for any kind of pepper plant, and will work for some of the smaller determinate-type tomatoes. In buckets I have raised all the following peppers: Orange Habanero, Red Savina, Red Habanero, Peach Habanero, Chocolate Habanero, White Habanero, Mustard Habanero, Alma Paprika, Bulgarian Carrot, Fish Pepper, Jalapeno (any named variety--the only one that might get too big is "Biker Billy"), NuMex Big Jim, NuMex Twilight, Red Cayenne, Blushing Beauty, Carmen, Marconi, and just about any sweet bell (except Super Heavyweight, which gets too large). Some of the tomatoes that have grown well for me in kitty litter buckets and 5-gallon buckets include: New Big Dwarf, Husky Red Cherry, Husky Gold Cherry, Grape, Bush Early Girl, Kimberly, Stupice, Better Bush, Porter, Porter Improved, Yellow Pear, Roma, Viva Italia, Martino's Roma, Window Box Roma, Sweet Baby Girl, and Celebrity. You can grow a lot of different veggies in kitty litter buckers and 5-gallon buckets, and I do restrict it to one plant per bucket for tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, etc. I wouldn't put two of anything in a kitty litter bucket except carrots, radishes, lettuce, etc. or, perhaps, bush beans--and I think you could put 2 or 3 bush bean plants in a bucket. You even could grow sweet corn in buckets, at the rate of 1 plant per bucket. You'd have to use one of the really small dwarf corns, and you'd need 16 buckets, with one plant per bucket, set up in a square grid, to get good pollination though. Corn would need higher nitrogen than most other plants, and lots of moisture too, but it can be done. For broccoli, I think any variety would grow in a bucket, but the smaller ones like "Small Miracle" would be especially well-suited for growing in containers. You do need to drill multiple holes in the bucket for drainage. It helps to have a very well-draining soilless mix--NOT ordinary garden soil which will pack down too hard and make root growth impossible. I mix up my own container mix so I can get the blend of ingredients just right. You will have to water often and, during the hottest part of the summer, you may have to water every morning and every afternoon. You can simplify your irrigation by lining up all your containers in rows and setting up a drip irrigation system with one or two emitters per bucket. You also will have to feed the plants consistently because daily watering can cause nutrients to leach out of the soil. I use slow-release organic fertilizers, but, if you choose to use chemical fertilizers, there are many slow-release ones available. If you water your buckets with a hand-held hose, you need to put a couple of inches of mulch on top of the soil in each bucket to prevent soil splash because, otherwise, soil-borne diseases will splash up onto your plant foliage each time you water. You could put 2" to 3" of bark mulch in the bottom of each container if you're trying to save money on soilless mix, but they'd do better with all container mix. And, you're going to have to keep the bermuda grass completely away from the buckets or it will grow up through the drainage holes and get well established or, if allowed to sneak in behind or between the buckets, it will grow into the upper soil surface while you're not paying attention...like while you're away on vacation for a week or not out around the plants because it rains every day for a week. The best way I have found to keep bermuda grass away from my containers is to lay down heavy, thick cardboard...like the type you'd get from furniture or appliance boxes. Then, on top of the cardboard, lay down a good, heavy-duty weedblock-type fabric--the woven type. Don't use the weedblock with perforated holes to "let moisture through" because bermuda grass will grow right through those perforations. Line up all your buckets on top of the weedblock fabric, fill them with your soilless mix, and plant your plants. Then, sweep any excess soil off the surface of the weedblock fabric and lay down 2" to 4" inches of mulch on top of the weedblock fabric. The bermuda grass STILL willl try to grow into your mulch, but it is easier to pull stray bermuda runners out of mulch than out of the ground. And, no matter what you do, you ALWAYS will have bermuda trying to grow into an area where you're growing veggies. ALWAYS. So, you still have to be very vigilant. Because I want for my "container garden" to look as attractive as possible, I spray paint all my kitty litter buckets a very dark green, using Fusion spray paint, which is formulated specifically to adhere to plastic. I also choose my location carefully, and try to site my buckets where they have some shelter from the wind, some shade from late afternoon sun in June-August (I like to place them in a spot with full sun from sunrise to about 2 or 3 p.m. and then shade after that), and protection from the deer (they'll nibble container-grown plants just like they'll nibble plants in the ground). Good luck, Dawn

Most cat litters (flushable or not) are made from clay. Exceptions would be Feline Pine, Swheat and Yesterdays News. I spilled clean cat litter on my basement floor,then the washer overflowed, clay plus water equals slippery mud. Took forvever to dry out. I opened the basement windows and set up fans. Finally dry, I was able to scrape up the mess and dospose of it. Never ever ever put anything from a cat in the toilet. You will definitely ruin your plumbing as Dan 1954 explained. I scoop my cat box (I now have just one cat) every morning. Put the scooped stuff in plastic grocery bag, twist and put with my household garbage for twice-weekly pickup. May be bad for the landfill, but what else can I do with it?