I used those tubs last year for lettuce and it worked quite well. Plus they are tall enough to allow a lot of growth without bending over. I put a brick on top of it to keep it from blowing away in the Kansas wind. Also, I use a piece of 2x4 to lift it off the soil a little. When we had an early frost the year before, I used them on my peonies which had begun to shoot up. Perfect. I was one of the few people around who had peony blooms. I wish the Rubbermaid people would stop and think of ways they could benefit gardeners by manufacturing these sorts of things.

You can use pretty well anything that holds the decomposing matter but, with any container the size of a garbage can you want to be able to get into it to remove the finished product. This winter, put an amount of snow into the container. Then try to get it out. Its wet, and its heavy. Try to put a spade or shovel in there and bring out what you can. Very difficult to manoeuvre a shovel from the top to reach into the container to remove anything. Containers with wet (damp)composting matter has weight which you might think you can roll around, but once you dampen it, it becomes a sotted mass which is very heavy. You'll be lucky if you can put it down on its side, let alone roll it. And then whaddya do....lift it? Good luck! For $200.00 you could build a better mousetrap or the luxury penthouse of a compost bin. For that much you could buy double the amount of wood and build a proper compost bin. For a lot less than that, you could build a couple compost bins with old wood pieces. There are a number of recipes for building a compost bin on the network. Location, location, location ...is important so read articles on 'where to put a compost bin'.

It may be possible to contain them at least until the pool cracks as plastic doesn't last forever. If you want a big bamboo, but don't want the ones that run rampantly, an very simple solution is to plant the least aggressive running bamboo that you can find that is still hardy enough to grow. Some species simply don't spread more than a few inches each year, and partial shade can further help to hinder their growth. In the northeast, some running bamboos can spread up close to 10ft a year while others typically run less than 1ft. I never use barriers, but I've been getting rid of species that run rampantly. Here's an example of one of my bamboos that has made it up to 15ft tall, but still hasn't spread much. I haven't done any rhizome pruning either. Here is a link that might be useful: Picture of my 4 year old phyllostachys dulcis- note their may be different cultivators of this

Hi Jeff-n-Jessa, I guess I wouldn't foliar feed plants with such high-numbered fertilizers because I'd be afraid the residues would burn the leaves. I'm not sure if my opinion is scientifically based, though, just my hunch. Does the label specifically mention foliar feeding? Why don't you use them as a root feed? Maybe dilute, since these water soluble ferts seem quite strong. Annuals can usually take the blossom boosters. In any case, it's usually better to underfertilize than overfertilize, so go easy. Personally, I use slow release fertilizers. As a matter of fact, I use only organic stuff. I find that they improve the soil, don't lead to soft, more disease-prone plants, and need to be applied less frequently. You might read about this in the organic forum or soil forum to see if that might be a good choice the next time you need some ferts. I'm with Minibim. I wouldn't use any fertilizer on the bouganvillea. The more you water and fertilize these plants, the more they produce green growth that needs to be pruned (ouch), and fewer flowers. They thrive and bloom on neglect. I occassionally (once a year or so at most, and probably not necessary), I throw a little compost their way. Happy gardening!