Some years back living on base and not allowed veggie plants in yard, my neighbor planted a couple cucumbers in a small 1 gallon flower pot by the chain fence that seperated us right by the faucet that they left slowly dripping into the pot during the day . Crazy people I thought. Well those darn plants grew and vined the whole fence...and produced enough cucs for the whole neighborhod. Good lesson I learned. I've 200 five gallon buckets that I use, depending on what veggie has my fancy.. Last year I was asked if I could do some extra tomatoes for a CSA...sure I said and planted 50 some cherry, some reg, and 50 containers in sweet peppers. I did a 7 foot fence by our polebarn to support the tomatoes, and had the buckets on either side. I don't do 511 anymore, way too much work and Fafard (medium mix) does the same for me, I do add a slow release fertilizer(organic) plus have to water twice a day in our scorching NC summers. I harvested more tomatoes and peppers then I could use, both for the CSA, Farmers Market, our use -and we use ALOT, plus literally giving our chickens a bucket of tomatoes to eat whenever I was overwhelmed. This year I won't be doing tomatoes or peppers in containers. I need a year break....I am still so sick of tomatoes that I can't even buy a fresh one for my salad! Am still using salsas, marinera sauces, spagetti sauses, etc....from last year and have enough sweet peppers chopped and frozen to last another season! I plan on cucumbers, squashes, and eggplants this year.....

Greg, I have grown many tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets, although they grow better/bigger/produce more fruit if grown in 10 gallon or larger containers. Here are some that have worked for me. Cherry/Grape Types: Snow White Sungold Yellow Pear Red Pear Porter and Porter Improved Window Box Roma Sweet Baby Girl Supersweet 100 Jelly Bean Juliet Red Currant Medium to Large Fruit Types: Cherokee Purple Red Brandywine Brandywine OTV Nebraska Wedding Celebrity Champion and Bush Champion Early Girl and Bush Early Girl Better Bush Lime Green Salad Rosalita Fourth of July Bloody Butcher Lemon Boy Persimmon Here's some tomatoes that people I know have grown in 5 gallon buckets, but I haven't grown them in buckets myself: Orange Pixie Golden Dwarf Champion Husky Red Husky Gold Patio Tiny Tim Tumbler Red Robin Yellow Canary Here's what I have planted in containers so far: 1 Kimberly (25 gallon container) 2 New Big Dwarf (5 gallon containers) 1 Little Lucky (25 gallon container) 1 Lucky Cross (25 gallon container) 1 Nebraska Wedding (25 gallon container) 2 Better Bush (5 gallon containers) 2 Principe Borghese (5 gallon containers) 1 Ultimate Opener (5 gallon container) 1 Red Star (5 gallon container) 1 Galina's Yellow (25 gallon container) Almost any tomato can be grown successfully in containers provided they have good drainage and are well watered (sometimes twice a day in the worst summer weather). With 5 gallon containers, though, I stay away from huge indeterminate varieties like Big Boy, Better Boy, Brandy Boy or Sweet Million. When selecting plants for 5 gallon buckets, you can't go wrong with any of the determinate varieties. Anything with "Dwarf" or "Bush" in its name will likely do quite well, as will any in the "Husky" line. I always grow Better Bush for early tomatoes. Mine have been in their pots since February and have green tomatoes about the size of ping pong balls. I haven't grown Bush Goliath, but have grown the regular Goliath in the ground, and it performed quite well. I hope this info helps. If you have any other questions, let me know. Dawn

I potted them using a mix of 'Just Natural' brand potting soil and mushroom compost (roughly 4:1 ratio), with a fair helping of bone meal mixed in. the potting soil has a lot of bark in it, and in my experience seems to be very well draining. I know I probably should use perlite as well, but that stuff is kinda expensive, so if I don't absolutely need it, it's an expense I can cut out. the wife is already complaining about how much I'm paying for the pots and soil. we are moving in 2 weeks and I'm giving up my well paying office job to probably work in the service industry while I'm in school, so every bit I can save is a plus. in this Florida heat (it's 90 degrees outside right now, and feels "nice" compared to the past few days of 95+) I think a bit of water retention is a good thing, my plants are under a tree and I still have to water at least every other day as it is, and the leaves are usually already really droopy by day 2 if it doesn't rain. but I've heard that hotter environments produce hotter peppers, so maybe it's a good thing. thanks guys for all the advice. I don't say that enough.

One question I get asked a lot is " how much dirt do I need to buy to fill a 5 gallon bucket?" Here is the answer. https://youtu.be/8B7BaAJMsMY