Karen, your depths would work okay. It would probably be easier to just use a common depth of 2 to 4 inches for all of them. Plants are fairly adustable. It seem to me that you are trying to put too many plants into a container? I usually stick with 3 or 4 since they do grow larger during the summer.

The broccoli plants I grew were about 4 feet wide, as well as tall. I have no doubt they would have gotten bigger if I wasn't getting low on the Flora series nutrients, and just used miracle gro until they were to far gone. I can't see a plant that size being easy to lift off the top of the bucket to do nutrient changes, and/or other maintenance. Yes can could have a drain plug, but you would still need to take the plant out to clean the inside of the bucket. I had 4 broccoli plants in 5 gallon buckets, but as a drip system with a 18 gallon reservoir. Between all 4 plants I would need to add 6-8 gallons of water each day back to the reservoir just to get the water level back to where it was. The system had no leaks, and it wasn't even hot yet because broccoli is a cold weather plant, so I grew them over winter. If I forgot to add water one day, the pump would be running dry the next day. So each plant would be drinking 1 1/2 to 2 gallons of water each day. Assuming you had 5 gallons of water in the 5 gallon bucket, that would be at least a third of the water per day. You can add water through the top each day, but the water level fluctuating that much will cause the nutrient strength (EC) to fluctuate quite a bit constantly. I wasn't expecting them to drink that much either, or I would have gotten a larger reservoir. Your analysis of oxygen saturation point in water ignores the gradient effects of the depth of the water and the distance from the roots. I don't think so. First I'm only talking about water less than 2 feet deep, probably only 1 foot at most, so the gradient effects of the depth of the water should be minimal at best. Also I'm not talking about non moving water. Even if you don't recirculate it, using a high volume air pump (you can get for about $100) and evenly placed air stones will supply both circulating water, as well as replace oxygen used by the plants. That will also provide actual air to the roots. That's how a typical water culture system works, and what I'm talking about. I don't think providing an even supply of sufficient air bubbles to the roots of a 12 foot long, by 2 foot wide container is a problem. But regardless of the water depth, if you don't have a way to sufficiently replace the oxygen used by the plants, your going to have a problem. Even if you do recirculate the water, I would still want a good air supply to the roots. Recirculating the water just adds the added benefits of being able to help oxygenate the water even more with falling water, as well as much easier nutrient maintenance.

As soon as they are big enough they won`t die if I forget to water them. 1 year old seedlings, in the ground, newly rooted cuttings, in the ground. They grow much faster in ground as opposed to pots, bloom sooner and I don`t have as much to drag in. Smaller plants are easier to cover and if we are predicted to have a hard, prolonged freeze I can dig them up if needed. The ground here doesn`t freeze and any freeze more than an hour or so are rare so that helps a lot. We`ve all had such weird weather the past couple of years though. Last year was more our normal, cold and rainy but no freezes. Stay warm ya`ll! Tally HO!

garyboun - I actually accomplished what I wanted and I love it. My washer /dryer are underneath my cabinets with pocket doors that open and slide back in. It required wider cabinets but I love that they are hidden when not in use. Since I used pocket doors, I had to go wider so each appliance has double pocket doors. Because the dryer is not vented it's important to keep doors open when using. It's great during the winter because it heats the room up. Let me clean up the laundry room a bit and I'll show you pics. In order to accomplish the planning of my cabinets, I did find a washer/dryer in a showroom and took pictures so that I could plan where to put my plugs and drain hoses. I have those pics as well if you want them. The only thing that is a bit tricky is that the detergent fill-bin is located at the top, so you will need to be careful about your countertop overhang. My total depth of the cabinets with the w/d is 27" including countertop. Cabinet depth is 26 1/2" so very minimal overhang. There's definitely room in the back for it to go back further but I wanted to play it safe. At minimum I think the cabinet depth would need to be 25" with doors that overlay on top versus inset. As far as leaving door open to dry out, it's also necessary to wipe down the rubber flange of excess water so mold doesn't set in. But I typically leave door open when I'm done with laundry on both w/d for a bit before closing them up for the day. These are in my back door entry so it's really nice to shut them away. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Let me know if you have any questions and I will see if I can upload pictures tomorrow.