I'm on my 3rd year using wicking bags inside a kiddie pool. I used them on my driveway where I had great sun but no dirt. I love the burlap idea! A trick I also discovered was to put half a Mosquito Dunk in each one to keep mosquitoes out of the water. Also, I drilled a hole about 2-3 inches from the bottom on the side wall so heavy rains would not drown my plants.
That was my thought about the kiddie pools - when your area gets a serious downpour, it could kill your plants (by drowning the roots) if there isn't at least a couple of holes maybe an inch or so up from the bottom on the sides of the pools.
@@javier0304 Nope, too HIGH UP on the kiddie pool. Roots need OXYGEN. If you have a deluge of rain - hell, my area often can get two inches of rain in an hour or two (not to mention when we get hail in abundance) and where he drilled those holes, the majority of a plants' roots would be water-bound for days without a couple of holes drilled low, maybe an inch or two from the bottom of the kiddie pool to allow excess rain to drain out. You have an opinion, but I'm basing what I mentioned on facts learned from about 50 years of gardening in many different methods, the most current one being hydroponics which is the best way to explain not drowning roots and the oxygenation those roots need for the plants to thrive. Personally, if I'm going to grow outside and want it high enough not to bend over to tend my garden, I use haybale gardening. Very easy to set up to and can grow amazing amounts of fruits/veggies.
I use the 42 inch wide size pool. It will hold six 5 gallon buckets and one in the center. I fill the space between the buckets with wood chips. I have five pools so far. The reason I am doing this is because I am planning to move to a rural area and I want to be able to load my garden onto a trailer and take it with me when I move.
@@kdc1153 Tree companies dump their wood chips at a place I have permission to go. Some of the chips are 20 years old. They make a great soil amendment for the sand we have here. Sometimes you can catch a tree truck and ask them if they will dump a load on your property.
If your move is far away, use caution. I moved an 8 hour drive (NY to VA), and it cost a lot of money. I ended up leaving most of my beautiful rose garden behind😔. But, I'm having fun rebuilding. I say this because If you're moving 1 hour away, its all good to make several trips, or pay for a mover to do so, but if it's longer, it will cost so much. I am LOVING this pool idea. I considered growing a pool full of grasses for my birds, cats, etc. I have a bunch of grass seeds(oat, wheat, rye, fescue, timothy) and i want my animals to enjoy them fully grown. This idea is wonderful because there are no weeds in between! I leave my cloth bags on top of feed bags or tarps because of weeds. I hope you have a wonderful time turning the page, and going on to the latest chapter of life, in a rural setting. It has been the best thing I ever could have done. And if you're in the 'burbs, you will probably make a crap ton of money selling your house.
I just ordered everything but the kiddie pools and will pick them up next week. Thanks. 65 yr old lady living in VA Mtns needing gardening idea or rental property. I am so grateful to you. Blessings. 🙏🇺🇸❤️💥🍀
I used a kitty pool for a dirt bath for my chickens. Bought it 6 years ago and it’s still holding up great and that’s with dirt inside it. No covering at all. Although I did put a patio umbrella cut down in height some that sits over the pool to help keep the rain out of the dirt bath and also helps hide the chickens from flying predators too! Funny though, put a dirt bath in a kitty pool and never considered using it to grow vegetables in! Actually these kitty pools might also work as a design for a key hole garden where you take chickens wire and make it into a circle ⭕️ and put it in the center of the pool. Then you add your growing dirt on the outside of the circle leaving the inside of the circle to put in kitchen scraps and anything else that can compost down to fertilize your garden plants at the same time as your plants grow. This method was used in other countries for decades and still being used today.
Many years ago I was undecided about where I wanted a garden so I planted all my tomatoes in pots. They grew and produced beautifully however in southern Wisconsin frost can happen early. I brought the kiddie pool into our 3 season room which had windows east and south facing. All my plants in their outdoor pots fit in the pool and, with help from a grow light, produced fruit through December. The pool went outdoors in late spring returning to it's original use.
My friend uses kiddy pools and makes them concrete pots. He covers the outside plastic and up over the lip down into the dirt line with dishcloths dipped in concrete. Sort of like paper mache, but concrete and cloth. You now have large concrete pots with no sun exposure for plastic outgasing into the water. Some were direct planters and some He used 2 kiddo pools together to create a deep saucer. It works.
Excellent answer to vastly improve the use of kiddie pools! Thanks! I've seen the videos of making/covering planters with cloth and concrete. Really, really nice!
Awesome tip! Can you explain what you mean with the 2 kiddie pools together? Do you mean that he stacked them so that one was a planter, with drain holes, and one was used under it to catch any overflow water (like how house plants have a saucer/drain tray)?
I believe it was talking about making a mold for the cement planter. If you look up papercrete or hypertuffa you can see what the mold process is using two bowls. It would be almost the same except this is taking a cloth and brushing thinned cement on it. Or possibly pouring it in the bottom pool. Then you press the top pool into the cement. When it's set, you take the pools off. Then you have a pool shaped cement pot.@@pbandjelly1311
Great idea to cover the blue with burlap. I've used kiddie pools for gardening for several years and they have yet to get brittle or break down from UV/Radiation rays. I get the same pools at Thrift Stores for a couple of dollars or pick them up FREE off the curbside where people have thrown them out in the city. You usually find them at the end of summer in my area. They are PERFECT for shallow rooted plants. This year I have onions & garlic planted in some and will plant yellow squash & zucchini in a couple others. I use the large 25 gallon cattle mineral tubs for the rest of my raised bed gardening. A local cattle farmer lets me have them for $3 each and they are super heavy plastic that have lasted me 5+ yrs & counting My soil is red clay & iron rock so I can't garden IN GROUND but I can grow in anything that will hold soil. I have used the wooded shipping crates that some companies give away for free just to get them out of their way. They don't last but about 5 yrs before the bottoms rot out but when you need something to use for growing FOOD, you will use what you can find & your budget allows. I'm also using the tubs from washing machines. Those can be painted to keep them from rusting and look nice in the garden. I'm also using an old bath tub, tilted slightly so the water will drain. I covered the drain with screen & rocks to keep it from getting clogged. I'm not TOO PROUD or ashamed to use what I can find to plant my veggies in. These days with the economy as it is I'm more concerned about growing FOOD than what others (or myself) think about what I use to garden in. No one sees it but me & the critters here in the deep back woods. I call it REDNECK gardening at its finest! Love all your ideas for gardening as well as the different things I've learned about to plant that I've never seen or heard about. I had been wondering why I had not been seeing any video's from you the last few months. I found that "SOMEONE" had unsubscribed me to your channel when I did a search for you. I saw you commenting in a chat on a livestream with DSH with Danny & Wanda & went to check why I wasn't getting notifications for your channel...Guess someone out there didn't want me seeing your video's for whatever reason. Glad to be able to get my FIX again & to hear your great singing that I really enjoy, too!
Also, I have seen some great uses of plastic storage containers, the kind used for storing clothing, decorations ect used for growing things. They also can be put on old chairs for height if bending down is a problem. They can also be found discarded in the garbage.
You tube has reconfigured, it has knocked many subscriptions off. Check them all, this might not be only one you’ve been unsubscribed from. These are all great ideas and Intend on incorporating most into my gardens. We’re “ redneck gardeners in backwoods too, and proud of it!!!
I make holes on the side about 3-4 inches hight around the pool, put 1/2 '' rocks in it and place the grow bags on the rocks. I put water high enough but not over the rocks to constantly have water in the pool and voila you will not have dry issue and my tomatoes or what ever you plant will be moist at all time and it worked for me (sorry for my english, I'm french from Quebec, Canada)
I like the burlap idea. I'm in Phoenix where the sun deteriorates those pools in one year. Plus it looks more natural than those bright blue pools. I use 5 or 10 gallon bags in mine and fill in the spaces with pebble rock up to about 4 inches. I keep 3 inches of water in the pool. I drill a hole at 3.5 " in case it rains it won't drown my plants. Having the water below the top level of the rocks keeps the moquitoes from breeding. Anyway, I grew corn in 2 kiddie pool/grow bag setups and it did fabulous. I also grew pumpkins in another. I also set small bags or pots of marigolds here and there in the pools.
I'm a cheapskate. Using 125 or 250 gallon bags (backfolded once), local dirt at the bottom and topped of with 6 inches of compost. Most of the 26 builders bags now in use, I got for free. First bags are 7 yrs old and still going strong. No need to buy compost, garden waste and kitchen scraps produce enough for a 1 inch layer of compost for the no-dig beds every year. It's weird but the backyard grown veggies taste way better than the the stuff from the supermarket
I have 6 kiddie pool beds. The cost was $0. I look for them on garbage day in the fall when I am driving to go someplace. I put them in my garage/giant garden shed for next spring. Parents often toss them out when it starts getting cold. Often they have a small hole in them, but since I am adding drainage holes it doesnt matter to me. The oldest is 4 years old and its still in great shape, its likely 5 years old as the person who tossed it out likely used it the summer before I found it.
This will make all the difference for this old granny, I'm down sizing, and want to move to a tiny home location. Now I will be able to take my garden with me wherever I go ❤🎉😊 bless you for taking the time to make this video. 🙏 grow in peace
I am a new subscriber to your channel today. I am disabled so the suggestions you made for raising the pools to wheelchair heights will work for me. I have been using retail milk jug containers for height when planting my Yukon gold, Norland, Kennebec, German fingerling potatoes, and sweet potato slips. I can now use my wooden pallets for the pools to plant my other vegetables. Shalom.
We’re both disabled too, my partner worse off than I am for doing gardening though cause she has bad knees. I built her several 4 foot by 4 foot tables 36” high so she can stand at the tables and either plant or harvest whatever she’s grown? Tables I made out of 4x8 with a wood floor and had 4-4x4 legs underneath. So there’s almost 8” of dirt to plant in. Those tables lasted 3 years. I built better tables this year out of waterproof plywood covered in plastic laminate that should last least 15-20 years! Built my chicken coop going on 4 years ago out of the same waterproof plywood with the plastic laminate and it still looks like brand new!
@@ghostridergale Thank you very much for all the information I will try and purchase some plastic laminate to cover my posts with. I too had to reduce my garden beds to 4 x 4 after my longterm 4 x 5 beds collapsed last season. Shalom!
6:51 How about zip-tie the burlap to a pool noodle and place the pool noodle in the gap between the grow bed and pool wall for extra sun shade for the pool material and strength to the grow bed? That way you have no holes in the pool and you can move the burlap whenever you want. To join the pool noodles, just use a short piece of PVC pipe.
@@chia_pet7121 correct. Slit the pool noodles, lay the burlap on the lip like it's gonna lay in the water, slide the slit of the pool noodle over the burlap and lip of the pool and then pull the burlap back over to cover the pool noodle. Alternatively, you could just silicone the burlap to the inside.
My pool is set up for the second year to grow sweet potatoes. Worked great last year! I just drilled holes and placed it on four concrete blocks to raise it a bit to be easier on my back.
@@noeldeal8087 I have mine laying on their sides in a plastic container in potting soil in the garage. I keep the soil moist. You won't always necessarily see the 'eye' on the sweet potato, but after about 3 weeks or so you should start seeing a little growth. I just snap mine off when they get to be around 6 inches tall. Pull the lower leaves off and stick the end in water. You will start to see root growth rather quickly. You can plant them straight away without the whole water step if you'd like. I like to know that they are rooting so I do this step. :) I start planting in the middle of the pool or container (I've used cardboard boxes too!) and then add more slips as I get them. When my containers are about full I just plant the whole dang tater! LOL
I did this with all of my growbags last year and it worked great. I was able to go away for the weekend without worrying about my plants. I will be reusing the pools this year.
Thank you for sharing. Ideas are running through my head. Pile pallets as high as you want in as many rows as you need. Use the pool as a raised bed garden.
I use mine because of moles. I love the blue color. My centers have a featured item. 1 has a bird bath, one has nothing but strawberries with strawberry pots and woodchips and some soil and overflowing with more strawberries, one has a tomato tree planter (the kind that grows tomatoes upside down) for my cherry tomatoes and then 4 more plants in grow bags around it. One is just for tomatoes but my favorite is full of flowers, and this year one is going to be a Salad Bowl, lots of lettuce and greens. I got the idea from you a few years back, this is my 3 yr using them.
I've been using these kiddie pools for 3 years, but what I do is put soil in the blue Walmart bags that cost 50 cents. I can put 5 or 6 bags in each pool. I can use the bags for at least 2 years. The problem now is if they still sell them. I bought a bunch last year and stored them. This system really works well. I only add water into the pool once a week. I keep about 6 inches of water inside the pool. This is a simple set up that works for me!
@@ASimplexity But they need to be the original blue bags. It's the material that it's made of that is what you need. Those other ones don't even feel the same. But, I don't know what you bought. Once you put them in the water, they soak up water and feed the roots and keeps the soil moist. I never need to add water to the bag itself!
This is a great idea to use as a above ground planter & water reservoir! Although the burlap will add protection to the pool edge from the sun & help the pool to look more natural , help with wicking moisture & cooling, the constant sun exposure WILL cause the burlap to break down over time and the burlap will crumble away and will need replacing in about a year or two.
I have been doing this for years myself and it makes watering so much faster and easier in a large garden. I know you want to extend the life of the pools but I really like seeing the blue in your garden, it looked lively and beautiful. Oh and during the winter with no plants inside they are great water collectors. In California we have been in drought mode, so collecting water is a good thing. Make sure to use mosquito dunks if your water is still in the pool as it warms up. They will not harm your plants but will save you from tons of bites and itching!
I did this last year and it worked except for the fact that birds would come and bathe in or drink from the water, even though there was a bird bath within 4 feet of the pool. I ended up wrapping the pool with bird netting. Even still, a local groundhog chewed through the netting to get to my zucchini.
I grew lettuces, kale, spinach and onions in those blue pools last summer. We have such a gopher problem, I can't put anything in the ground. I didn't do anything special with them other than put holes in the bottom for drainage..worked great! I will be using the again this year..
We use a kiddy pool, add water then stand our pot of green beans up out of the water on a couple of bricks in the middle, it keeps slugs and snails away from the plant.
FANTASTIC idea! I have a large lawn that I want to convert most of to raised beds. I can plop the pools just where I want and hpoefully the sod underneath will expire. My soil is PNW clay and rock. Tons of trapped nutrients in it but it takes a lot of amending to loosen up. I've used the same grow bags in small sizes to grow up plants while deciding permanent location, they work great. I also love the idea from another commenter about composting in the center.
Great idea! We used these in our first few years, to get more gardening space. We found that here in South Florida, the blue ones lasted about 3 years, growing year round. Stay away from the pink ones, as they deteriorated after just one year. Not sure why, but the pink plastic crumbled quickly. If you are in a more northern part of the US, I am sure you can get many years out of the blue ones.
Giggling as I read this, because we use them (also here in soFL) as additional watering stations for livestock during the summer. Same thing - we may get a couple years, but they break down more quickly in South Florida.
They last a little longer here in coastal AL near the FL panhandle. The UV/Radiation rays are killers anymore with any plastic...even the ABS plastic lawn chairs/furniture. But I've had to start planting my garden (I use raised beds & huge plastic tubs (cattle mineral tubs) in partial shade as things you used to plant in full sun now get burned to a crisp. Started this several years ago when my tomato & bell pepper plants literally FRIED in the full sun (leaves were crispy). When I get sunburned working in the SHADE...something just ain't right anymore with things, if you know what I mean!
@@DeepSouthBamaGRITS I am sure your winters are a bit colder than ours, but we grow tomatoes in the winter. I definitely think there have been more uv rays. Our tomatoes got sunburned this year. Not the plants, the actual tomatoes. We are almost finished with them for the year, although I have a few in mostly shade that are still holding on. Once the temps and humidity get too high, they will also be finished. I have also found that the gray tubs from walmart last pretty well. Don't use the clear ones, though.
@@weegardenhomestead805 I'm in grow zone 8b (almost 9) and we can usually grow tomatoes til our 1st frost which is NORMALLY in December/January. With the right variety we can grow thru the summer but our heat/humidity shuts down production. If I grow an indeterminate variety I can prune them back once the heat/humidity shuts them down and they will continue to grow and start producing again for the fall. We had a massive heat wave several months this past summer along with a severe drought & lost most all veggie harvests as the UV rays was worse than the heat/drought. My tomatoes came back as usual and were producing tomatoes when we had an unexpected frost/freeze in Oct. I had covered my tomatoes & peppers (that I had also pruned back) and they survived the one night freeze/frost but the November one got the tomatoes. I dig up my bell peppers and put in pots in the greenhouse to plant again the following year. That way I get a head start with pepper production by having an established plant with a good root system. Our spring came WAY too early (in Jan this year) so everything was all messed up with planting, fruit trees blooming & setting fruit early. Then we had another unexpected freeze in March going from temps near 80(F) down to wind chill temp of 21(F)! I covered everything I possibly could but it wiped out my wild huckleberries & blueberries that were already turning from pink to blue. Literally burned the berries like they were freeze-dried, EVEN HEAVILY COVERED! It got the leaves (for the 6th time since October) on all my fig trees & killed 3 that were well-established & fruiting trees. Two did come back from the roots but one never came back. My fig trees have yet to fully recover as they had baby figs with that freeze. They really took a big hit being knocked back so many times in 6 months. It beats all I've ever seen with the warm/cold, warm/cold weather we've had that is NOT NORMAL for our area. So no veggies were harvested last summer (except for a few fresh-picked meals but nothing to put back), the Christmas freeze took out my winter garden completely (except for my garlic & onions) so no winter harvests and now no fruit harvests this year. Veggie garden that I started planting in January with my potatoes (I've already harvested) is looking good, so far. Our temps are much cooler than normal, tho, so everything is growing slower. Not sure yet if we are going to continue this cooler pattern and have a LONGER GROWING SEASON or it turn off hot as blue blazes like it did last summer and everything burns up. Only time will tell. That is UNREAL that your tomatoes got sunburned but I don't doubt it after all I've seen that is unusual with our temps. Guess I'm going to have to start to learn new gardening techniques I've used for over 30 yrs & adapt to new techniques. Praying that going from La Nina back to El Nino is not going to accelerate hurricane season this year. Be blessed, be safe & happy gardening & bountiful harvests!
Deep South Bama Grits, I appreciated your entry so much. I live in Gulfport, MS & was in FL during the winter mo’s. This Spring I have had multiple different ornamental plants that have been in my yard for 20 yrs in different places not leaf out this Spring. I could not figure out what was going on. It must have been the warn/ freezing cycle you described. That is the reason I don’t grow early blueberries, only mid season. We’ll have to see if I get any this yr. Learned a lot from your comment.
I’d fill the pools with large rock. This would look so nice but still allow the pot to absorb water and you will get trace minerals in your watering as another benefit
I have the kid pool and fabric. Because I am reduced mobility, I took an old round kitchen table and I will put my pool on top of it!! Thanks for the idea!
This is wonderful! I have been very crippled now for at least 5 years and had to give up gardening. I just can't bend over anymore. But your suggestion of putting it up on a picnic bench...never would have thought of that!! Bless You Dear!! 🥰🌱🪴🌴🌹
Thank you for the great idea! Along with your great idea, I'm also thinking about digging and sinking a kiddie pool with drainage holes down into the ground. This should also protect sides of the pool from the sun & it will prevent invasive herbs in my garden such as peppermint from spreading too much.
HDPE isn't automatically food grade, if that's the implication early in the video. The plastic can contain additives like dyes and softening agents that leach out of the plastic over time. The molding process can also introduce surface contaminants that aren't safe to consume. That said, it's probably safe to grow plants in. Just don't go thinking it's safe because it's HDPE--that isn't implied. Your typical five-gallon bucket is also HDPE, but you may notice that food grade ones are marked and sold separately. There's a reason for that, and it's not just to scam gullible people.
@@pdaby123 The number identifies the plastic resin only, not whether the product is food grade. Other plastics may be food grade (#5, polypropylene, is common as it's microwave safe), and any plastic object can fail to be food grade for reasons having nothing to do with the particular plastic it's made of. If a product is sold for use with food, it may carry a food grade symbol depicting a knife, spoon, and fork in a circle. Another food grade indicator looks like a goblet and fork side-by-side. If you want more information, there's a Wikipedia article called "Food contact materials" that covers the topic in more detail than I have.
when i moved into my house, there were about 6 of those old recycle bins in my garage... Ive been wanting to garden for quite some time, but with the FL heat, and summer monsoons... I have a hard time with some veggies- spec Tomatoes- they litterally just melt in the sun. I got the idea to re use those old recycle bins and use them for gardening. they are food grade safe, and I put them on my screened patio- this way I can control the water as well as BUGs! I have planted some squash, green beans and decided to try some cucumbers... I hope it works, bc ive been trying to eat better and food is so expensive!
Living in the south where we get lots of floods, the only garden I can safely grow things in are raised garden beds, so I love ideas like this where you can use it at higher levels. Thanks for the tips and ideas!
Great idea....right on about increasing the longevity of the pools - but I must say I really like the blue colour. Makes me think of water pools and gives the overall green a nice punch up! Good job! 👍
I really appreciate the great content. Simple, effective, and attractive way to make gardening more accessible and less intimidating! I loved your inclusive approach as my wife is a PTA and works with handicapped people. She always is trying to help improve others body mechanics and your approach is a great easy to understand solution. On another note......I worked for the cable company for 8 years and had many a coworker cut a terrible end on a ziptie, and somehow through all that time I have never seen anyone so simply cut a clean end on one!
My friend used plastic kiddie pools to grow gouramis once (aquarium fish). They live naturally in stagnant water, so a few water changes now and then was all it takes. They did well, and by the seasons end, he had a lot of them. The trouble is, no one wanted them. They are nice aquarium fish, but are cheap as chips thanks to the massive fish farms in Florida flooding the market with them. He ended up giving away all he could, then moved the rest into his aquaculture set up. They are not cold tolerant so they lived out their days in his greenhouse. I think he replaced them with tilapia eventually, and ate them.
I have always wanted to do that after reading an ancient aquarium book that came out before there were pumps etc. A gentleman had raised them in an old clawfoot bathtub in his back yard. I love aquariums and gardening,! I wish I had the man power and money to install a set up to grow fish for food, so Im not the only barbarian eh?
I would of never thought about a plastic swim pool to grow a small garden in!! Very clever...guess I will be doing that very soon!! Thanks for sharing!
Here in south East Texas we can have heavy down pours. For areas with heavy rains, I put a drain plug on one side and have the bed about 1" to 2" elevated on the side opposite the drain plug. My daughter uses the grow bags and loves them. I sent her you video also to my church ladies that garden. A note we see these pools tossed on the curb on trash pickup day. Great way to cut the cost. Plus you can get free pallets and even further cut the cost. Thanks for reminding me about these little pools for gardening.
We use 2 of those big blue pools, for animals water. We get a lot of flash flooding here, & have to be careful of planters that hold water outside. The floor rains will flood THEM, same thing with my buckets I use for planters. Clay dirt also holds lots of water we have a lot of that here ranging from red to black, been adding lots of extra organic matter to the planting beds
Putting holes in the sides of the pools/pots a few inches above the bottom reduces too much water trapped in the pools/pots that could drown your plants
I LOVE this! You have the BEST ideas for down to earth approaches that are cost effective! I've used more than one of your ideas and I'll use this one to expand on my front yard garden (where the soil is terrible and unusable). Thanks!!
I had a couple of these pools set up as garden beds for several years at my last house, and they worked great. I put branches and sticks on the bottom after punching some holes, to lessen the account of soil I'd need. Our local toyshop for a bunch of damaged pools, and offered them for a donation, which they in turn donated to a local charity! I think I paid $5/each. I started some perennial Good King Henry seeds from my own plant in one - it's drought hardy, so the soil around it doesn't foster seedlings as well as the bed!
I bought 2 pools last summer and my german shepard bit holes in them. I've been wondering how to cut them up to get rid of them. I am so excited to do this!! great idea!! thank you for the upload
Turntable hack to twirl it around…sun effect as well as accessibility for someone in wheelchair etc. I don’t have the idea exactly but maybe marbles between two pools? The burlap would have to be recalculated…maybe🤷🏼♀️. The outside pool would have to be cut off below the level of the burlap. Of course this would not be something you would want to make a lot of because of the two pool situation but for a special needs gardener that you really want to enjoy this.
They work great. I used smaller bags and planted popcorn. About 3” up we drilled a drain hole. Just don’t leave them in the garden if they start to break down.
Really impressive session. I like the attention to detail, beginning with the instructions on just the burlap covering. I'll be looking at your other videos! THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your time!
I love wicking beds and using those fabric pots with the pools is genius. I need to pick up a fee for some citrus seedling I'm babying until they get a little bigger. Excellent video brother!!!!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the upgraded look!! Thank you so much for sharing this!! Anyone know what plants grow best in those grow bags. So far I’ve only ever used them for potatoes, but I honestly don’t know if it would benefit or hinder potato growth to water them this way. 😂🤷♀️
You asked what to plant. Much depends on your purpose, food or ornamental? Either way, ask the plant nursery for "shallow root" items. The pools aren't very deep. Potato is great for setting in a deep bag at the center with small bags around the base. While the pool itself is filled with water, you can use a wicking system for water sensitive plants.
I bought 3 about 10 years ago to use for water for animals and a place for frogs to lay eggs. So far 2 still doing great the third got a crack so we repurposed for a chicken scratch area. I wish I would have though of the burlap, looks much nicer than that bright blue.
I did this method back in 2015-2016 when the pools were half that cost. It worked great but we get an excess of rain and mosquitoes here so I just started putting my bags directly on the ground and they do just fine.
Wow, this is exactly what OI've been looking for. My spouse had a community garden for years. But thanks to M.S. had to give it up. I/ve been trying to plan out ways to accomidate. I will have to check on chemicals in he pool, but after that it looks great! THANK YOU
Great idea, especially the burlap. Slugs will hate that burlap. Going to try that on some of my regular raised beds. Along with some new plastic pools!
Benn using kiddie pools for at least 20 years and they never fail! Of course, I am game to use about anything to grow in! Nice Cover for it, as you said, looks more natural💞
QUESTION:: Do you need to put holes around the sides just below the inner jute line so that the water will not wick up and out of the pool? Also to allow for excess rain water to run out?
I have thought about using these pools before as grow bed. What soil do you use to fill it? I’ve also considered using the cloth planters inside it as well. Great minds! I have also used planters and buckets inside the cloth planters because of a possible move to a different area. And filled it with mulch or wood chips to help keep moisture inside and protect the roots in winter. On a sidenote, the chickens love their pool for a dirt bath! Thank you for the video.
what a fantastic garden idea, this is one of the best I've seen in years, you are very clever, I should know , i've been a gardener since I was 10, now I'm 74. thankyou so much for sharing. P.S. they look like giant pies!!!
If placed on the ground you could have mice & other small critters in, under it. I've have that setup. In my opinion the drainage holes goes inch or 2 above the bottom
That's genius! I didn't know those kiddie pools were that cheap. I see construction crews using them to mix cement in. I was even baptized in a kiddie pool! (the priest had it decorated so you couldn't tell what it was)
Thanks for sharing. I did the same thing this past year using my granddaughter’s old sandbox I drilled holes in the bottom of it for drainage nice and big and I’ll be putting vegetables in mine this year.
I love this idea. We buy kiddie pools for our runner ducks to swim and bathe and another larger one for our dogs but now I might have to buy another one for all the grow bags I just bought. We still have snow on the ground so it could be a couple more months before they are on sale here though
I love love this idea. I live in the Mojave desert and it’s truly nearly impossible to have a garden. But I haven’t given up. I really want to try this. My concern is the depth of the soil, with the little pools being only under 8 inches.
place grow bags inside the pools and nice mineralized desert sand around them to nourish your plants each time you water.....place drainage holes on sides of the pools (height of holes depends on what you are planting or how often you want to water)
This is what I found with the kiddie pool I had. The one I had is the little eye shaped design on the bottoms had broken out of it so I had all these small pieces of blue plastic that I had to clean up. Which is probably good because it breaks down faster if it goes to the land fill. That’s the only downside for me. It took a couple years of use but inexpensive to replace. Thank you for the burlap suggestions, that’s a great idea!
I was already planning on doing this but good to know what size grow bags fit inside that size pool. I've used kiddie pools for 3 years as planters and hate the blue color. Also not impressed with growing directly in the pools but like you I thought they would make great "saucers" for the big grow bags and pots, especially if we have another drought
Kiddie pools saved our garden from the drought last year. We were in the process of making raised beds and needed something to keep the plants moist until we had finished them. Our tomatoes flourished! We have several sizes of pools, some for plants in pots and some for our ducks to swim inside. We will be using the pools again this year as we had so much success.
I lived in Santa Clara almost 20 years and snagged a couple of kiddy pools on the highway and Craigslist FREE. Layer of straw, layer of soil, and seeds made for a great garden. Now I'm back in A2 Michigan, getting a guilty pleasure running water 🌊 Nice work brah 💯. Hi to Alice too. 👍🌞
I was using totes last summer. They became brittle and started cracking. I'm getting rid of them and building cement block beds this year. The cement blocks will last many years.
I didn't see where you put an overflow (or drainage hole). Since I live in SW Florida we get a lot of rain so I put a cork in the bottom if I got too much water. Likewise I placed an overflow hole about 2" up on one side. This kept the pool from flooding. If it got really bad I raised my five gallon cloth bags with bricks to keep just the very bottom of the bags in the water. It was great for growing turmeric.
What a brilliant idea, I can’t believe I never thought of using the kiddie pools 🤦🏼♀️. When my GSD passed away I used her old plastic bed for growing plants, unfortunately, over the years the weather made it brittle. I will definitely be making a few of these for the garden.
I guess I'm not too old to be learning this today. I wish I was done! I did learn how to twist off a zip tie without some knife danger, today. I don't think I've ever tried that. If I did I wasn't successful. Very useful and helpful all around. Thanks for your knowledge. I bet it turns out unbelievably great. Great show.
Went yesterday and bought 2 kiddie pools at Target ($12 each) - nice thing is, in addition to the bright blue, they had a darker teal which I find blends much better into a green garden!; ) Thanks so much for the tip to check Target by another commenter!:p👍✨
I buy only the blue kiddie pools now, I bought some pink ones last year and the sun faded them out really bad, tbe blue are still looking great after 5 years, now I will try other colors if I can find them, the teal ones sound awesome for my flower beds 🫶✌️🌻
I'm in GA (moved here from Tampa 20 years ago) and we get a ton of rain too, but not as much heat and humidity. I love the fabric pots and we have several 100 and 150 gallon bags, as well as small ones I use for herbs. We've had no mold or mildew on any of the bags after almost 4 years, though one has moss growing on the outside, which I think is cool. Kicking myself that we didn't think to put them in the kiddie pools, because once you fill them they are HEAVY. As for the burlap, having used it in crafting, I'm betting it dries too fast to get moldy. Even with this premium burlap, there is airflow in the weave and the fabric is very thin.
I'm on my 3rd year using wicking bags inside a kiddie pool. I used them on my driveway where I had great sun but no dirt. I love the burlap idea! A trick I also discovered was to put half a Mosquito Dunk in each one to keep mosquitoes out of the water. Also, I drilled a hole about 2-3 inches from the bottom on the side wall so heavy rains would not drown my plants.
That was my thought about the kiddie pools - when your area gets a serious downpour, it could kill your plants (by drowning the roots) if there isn't at least a couple of holes maybe an inch or so up from the bottom on the sides of the pools.
The holes that Dan drilled for the zip ties should be sufficient for drainage.
Mosquito dunks are safe for veggie gardens??
@@javier0304 Nope, too HIGH UP on the kiddie pool. Roots need OXYGEN. If you have a deluge of rain - hell, my area often can get two inches of rain in an hour or two (not to mention when we get hail in abundance) and where he drilled those holes, the majority of a plants' roots would be water-bound for days without a couple of holes drilled low, maybe an inch or two from the bottom of the kiddie pool to allow excess rain to drain out. You have an opinion, but I'm basing what I mentioned on facts learned from about 50 years of gardening in many different methods, the most current one being hydroponics which is the best way to explain not drowning roots and the oxygenation those roots need for the plants to thrive. Personally, if I'm going to grow outside and want it high enough not to bend over to tend my garden, I use haybale gardening. Very easy to set up to and can grow amazing amounts of fruits/veggies.
@@cathrynmartin4395
Gee, you should do your own show!
I use the 42 inch wide size pool.
It will hold six 5 gallon buckets and one in the center. I fill the space between the buckets with wood chips. I have five pools so far.
The reason I am doing this is because I am planning to move to a rural area and I want to be able to load my garden onto a trailer and take it with me when I move.
What kind of wood chips do you use?
@@kdc1153 Tree companies dump their wood chips at a place I have permission to go. Some of the chips are 20 years old. They make a great soil amendment for the sand we have here.
Sometimes you can catch a tree truck and ask them if they will dump a load on your property.
I have 5 pools also, for my flower beds, works great✌️
Can you send me more details on how to do this? Your idea sounds great…neater n easier.
If your move is far away, use caution. I moved an 8 hour drive (NY to VA), and it cost a lot of money. I ended up leaving most of my beautiful rose garden behind😔. But, I'm having fun rebuilding. I say this because If you're moving 1 hour away, its all good to make several trips, or pay for a mover to do so, but if it's longer, it will cost so much.
I am LOVING this pool idea. I considered growing a pool full of grasses for my birds, cats, etc. I have a bunch of grass seeds(oat, wheat, rye, fescue, timothy) and i want my animals to enjoy them fully grown. This idea is wonderful because there are no weeds in between! I leave my cloth bags on top of feed bags or tarps because of weeds.
I hope you have a wonderful time turning the page, and going on to the latest chapter of life, in a rural setting. It has been the best thing I ever could have done. And if you're in the 'burbs, you will probably make a crap ton of money selling your house.
I just ordered everything but the kiddie pools and will pick them up next week. Thanks. 65 yr old lady living in VA Mtns needing gardening idea or rental property. I am so grateful to you. Blessings. 🙏🇺🇸❤️💥🍀
Did you do this? Just now watching it..
I used a kitty pool for a dirt bath for my chickens. Bought it 6 years ago and it’s still holding up great and that’s with dirt inside it. No covering at all. Although I did put a patio umbrella cut down in height some that sits over the pool to help keep the rain out of the dirt bath and also helps hide the chickens from flying predators too!
Funny though, put a dirt bath in a kitty pool and never considered using it to grow vegetables in!
Actually these kitty pools might also work as a design for a key hole garden where you take chickens wire and make it into a circle ⭕️ and put it in the center of the pool. Then you add your growing dirt on the outside of the circle leaving the inside of the circle to put in kitchen scraps and anything else that can compost down to fertilize your garden plants at the same time as your plants grow. This method was used in other countries for decades and still being used today.
Love love love the keyhole garden idea!!
I use one for dirt bath for my feathered family and a pool for the ducks.
I use them for my ducks, easy for them to get in and easy to dump the water out and replace nice and fresh.
Umbrella is a great idea.
Don't the kitchen scraps attract mice and other critters? We have deer, raccoons, foxes, cats, etc.
Many years ago I was undecided about where I wanted a garden so I planted all my tomatoes in pots. They grew and produced beautifully however in southern Wisconsin frost can happen early. I brought the kiddie pool into our 3 season room which had windows east and south facing. All my plants in their outdoor pots fit in the pool and, with help from a grow light, produced fruit through December. The pool went outdoors in late spring returning to it's original use.
💟👍
My friend uses kiddy pools and makes them concrete pots. He covers the outside plastic and up over the lip down into the dirt line with dishcloths dipped in concrete. Sort of like paper mache, but concrete and cloth. You now have large concrete pots with no sun exposure for plastic outgasing into the water. Some were direct planters and some He used 2 kiddo pools together to create a deep saucer. It works.
This sounds fascinating I'd love to see how it's done.
I seen someone do the concrete kiddy pools on TH-cam a while back, pretty cool idea!
Excellent answer to vastly improve the use of kiddie pools! Thanks! I've seen the videos of making/covering planters with cloth and concrete. Really, really nice!
Awesome tip! Can you explain what you mean with the 2 kiddie pools together? Do you mean that he stacked them so that one was a planter, with drain holes, and one was used under it to catch any overflow water (like how house plants have a saucer/drain tray)?
I believe it was talking about making a mold for the cement planter.
If you look up papercrete or hypertuffa you can see what the mold process is using two bowls. It would be almost the same except this is taking a cloth and brushing thinned cement on it. Or possibly pouring it in the bottom pool. Then you press the top pool into the cement. When it's set, you take the pools off. Then you have a pool shaped cement pot.@@pbandjelly1311
Great idea to cover the blue with burlap. I've used kiddie pools for gardening for several years and they have yet to get brittle or break down from UV/Radiation rays. I get the same pools at Thrift Stores for a couple of dollars or pick them up FREE off the curbside where people have thrown them out in the city. You usually find them at the end of summer in my area. They are PERFECT for shallow rooted plants. This year I have onions & garlic planted in some and will plant yellow squash & zucchini in a couple others. I use the large 25 gallon cattle mineral tubs for the rest of my raised bed gardening. A local cattle farmer lets me have them for $3 each and they are super heavy plastic that have lasted me 5+ yrs & counting My soil is red clay & iron rock so I can't garden IN GROUND but I can grow in anything that will hold soil. I have used the wooded shipping crates that some companies give away for free just to get them out of their way. They don't last but about 5 yrs before the bottoms rot out but when you need something to use for growing FOOD, you will use what you can find & your budget allows. I'm also using the tubs from washing machines. Those can be painted to keep them from rusting and look nice in the garden. I'm also using an old bath tub, tilted slightly so the water will drain. I covered the drain with screen & rocks to keep it from getting clogged.
I'm not TOO PROUD or ashamed to use what I can find to plant my veggies in. These days with the economy as it is I'm more concerned about growing FOOD than what others (or myself) think about what I use to garden in. No one sees it but me & the critters here in the deep back woods. I call it REDNECK gardening at its finest!
Love all your ideas for gardening as well as the different things I've learned about to plant that I've never seen or heard about.
I had been wondering why I had not been seeing any video's from you the last few months. I found that "SOMEONE" had unsubscribed me to your channel when I did a search for you. I saw you commenting in a chat on a livestream with DSH with Danny & Wanda & went to check why I wasn't getting notifications for your channel...Guess someone out there didn't want me seeing your video's for whatever reason. Glad to be able to get my FIX again & to hear your great singing that I really enjoy, too!
Great ideas!
Also, I have seen some great uses of plastic storage containers, the kind used for storing clothing, decorations ect used for growing things.
They also can be put on old chairs for height if bending down is a problem.
They can also be found discarded in the garbage.
5 gallon food containers are wonderful.
Planted tomatoes for years in them.
Got them free at a local pizzeria!!
Just ask !
You tube has reconfigured, it has knocked many subscriptions off. Check them all, this might not be only one you’ve been unsubscribed from. These are all great ideas and Intend on incorporating most into my gardens. We’re “ redneck gardeners in backwoods too, and proud of it!!!
If it looks like shit, then it gets put in the backyard.
To keep people out of my front yard, I grow thorns.
Yes. I have heavy duty plastic folding tables in my yard and put my container plants on them. It’s a game changer
I love the smell of creativity in the morning!
Smells like victory
Steve,😂😂😂😂😂me too!
I make holes on the side about 3-4 inches hight around the pool, put 1/2 '' rocks in it and place the grow bags on the rocks. I put water high enough but not over the rocks to constantly have water in the pool and voila you will not have dry issue and my tomatoes or what ever you plant will be moist at all time and it worked for me (sorry for my english, I'm french from Quebec, Canada)
I like the burlap idea. I'm in Phoenix where the sun deteriorates those pools in one year. Plus it looks more natural than those bright blue pools. I use 5 or 10 gallon bags in mine and fill in the spaces with pebble rock up to about 4 inches. I keep 3 inches of water in the pool. I drill a hole at 3.5 " in case it rains it won't drown my plants. Having the water below the top level of the rocks keeps the moquitoes from breeding. Anyway, I grew corn in 2 kiddie pool/grow bag setups and it did fabulous. I also grew pumpkins in another. I also set small bags or pots of marigolds here and there in the pools.
I'm a cheapskate. Using 125 or 250 gallon bags (backfolded once), local dirt at the bottom and topped of with 6 inches of compost. Most of the 26 builders bags now in use, I got for free. First bags are 7 yrs old and still going strong. No need to buy compost, garden waste and kitchen scraps produce enough for a 1 inch layer of compost for the no-dig beds every year. It's weird but the backyard grown veggies taste way better than the the stuff from the supermarket
Sounds great! I hate throwing away kitchen scraps!!! If you ask my kid, I hate throwing away anything! 😎☺😄😃
Not weird that the food tastes better - it’s fresher.
@@shirleymize7629 Also no toxic pesticides or other chemicals makes all the difference.
Sorry for silly question:where I can find builders bags?
@@Svdm84 just google them, in europe there are a lot around
I have 6 kiddie pool beds. The cost was $0. I look for them on garbage day in the fall when I am driving to go someplace. I put them in my garage/giant garden shed for next spring. Parents often toss them out when it starts getting cold. Often they have a small hole in them, but since I am adding drainage holes it doesnt matter to me. The oldest is 4 years old and its still in great shape, its likely 5 years old as the person who tossed it out likely used it the summer before I found it.
This will make all the difference for this old granny, I'm down sizing, and want to move to a tiny home location. Now I will be able to take my garden with me wherever I go ❤🎉😊 bless you for taking the time to make this video. 🙏 grow in peace
I am a new subscriber to your channel today. I am disabled so the suggestions you made for raising the pools to wheelchair heights will work for me. I have been using retail milk jug containers for height when planting my Yukon gold, Norland, Kennebec, German fingerling potatoes, and sweet potato slips. I can now use my wooden pallets for the pools to plant my other vegetables. Shalom.
We’re both disabled too, my partner worse off than I am for doing gardening though cause she has bad knees. I built her several 4 foot by 4 foot tables 36” high so she can stand at the tables and either plant or harvest whatever she’s grown? Tables I made out of 4x8 with a wood floor and had 4-4x4 legs underneath. So there’s almost 8” of dirt to plant in.
Those tables lasted 3 years. I built better tables this year out of waterproof plywood covered in plastic laminate that should last least 15-20 years! Built my chicken coop going on 4 years ago out of the same waterproof plywood with the plastic laminate and it still looks like brand new!
@@ghostridergale Thank you very much for all the information I will try and purchase some plastic laminate to cover my posts with. I too had to reduce my garden beds to 4 x 4 after my longterm 4 x 5 beds collapsed last season. Shalom!
If can get someone to help you and pick up
wooden pallets( free), 2/3 high should do it for a wheel chair..
Nice! Using pallets is a cheap, easy way to get that height!
6:51 How about zip-tie the burlap to a pool noodle and place the pool noodle in the gap between the grow bed and pool wall for extra sun shade for the pool material and strength to the grow bed? That way you have no holes in the pool and you can move the burlap whenever you want. To join the pool noodles, just use a short piece of PVC pipe.
Great idea!!! I was thinking of pool noodles too. Thank you!😊
My pool noodles disintegrate after a while. Plus that would defeat the natural look he’s going for.
@@kathleenhall6346 the noodles are under the burlap. UV rays will rapidly deteriorate nonprotected items.
Or pvc pipe
@@chia_pet7121 correct. Slit the pool noodles, lay the burlap on the lip like it's gonna lay in the water, slide the slit of the pool noodle over the burlap and lip of the pool and then pull the burlap back over to cover the pool noodle.
Alternatively, you could just silicone the burlap to the inside.
My pool is set up for the second year to grow sweet potatoes. Worked great last year!
I just drilled holes and placed it on four concrete blocks to raise it a bit to be easier on my back.
I'm curious to know how they did. I read they need heavy, compact soil in order to form a tuber...otherwise they're just very thin.🤔
How do you start your sweet potatoes slips? I read you need at least two eyes... how do you dry the cut sides?
@@noeldeal8087 I have mine laying on their sides in a plastic container in potting soil in the garage. I keep the soil moist. You won't always necessarily see the 'eye' on the sweet potato, but after about 3 weeks or so you should start seeing a little growth. I just snap mine off when they get to be around 6 inches tall. Pull the lower leaves off and stick the end in water. You will start to see root growth rather quickly. You can plant them straight away without the whole water step if you'd like. I like to know that they are rooting so I do this step. :)
I start planting in the middle of the pool or container (I've used cardboard boxes too!) and then add more slips as I get them. When my containers are about full I just plant the whole dang tater! LOL
@happy2cya70 I reiterate: do your sweets plump up, or are they skinny?
@@dwarfhernandez6636 ...rude
I did this with all of my growbags last year and it worked great. I was able to go away for the weekend without worrying about my plants. I will be reusing the pools this year.
Thanks for the idea
Oh for watering easily. NEAT!
@@nskimharris Yes. I put the grow bags in the pools and then put the water in the pools and let it soak into the bags. Works great.
Thank you for sharing. Ideas are running through my head. Pile pallets as high as you want in as many rows as you need. Use the pool as a raised bed garden.
I use mine because of moles. I love the blue color. My centers have a featured item. 1 has a bird bath, one has nothing but strawberries with strawberry pots and woodchips and some soil and overflowing with more strawberries, one has a tomato tree planter (the kind that grows tomatoes upside down) for my cherry tomatoes and then 4 more plants in grow bags around it. One is just for tomatoes but my favorite is full of flowers, and this year one is going to be a Salad Bowl, lots of lettuce and greens. I got the idea from you a few years back, this is my 3 yr using them.
I've got 2 for strawberries and 2 for lettuce. I suggest using a drill with a large bit to prevent drainage holes from getting clogged.
I've been using these kiddie pools for 3 years, but what I do is put soil in the blue Walmart bags that cost 50 cents. I can put 5 or 6 bags in each pool. I can use the bags for at least 2 years. The problem now is if they still sell them. I bought a bunch last year and stored them. This system really works well. I only add water into the pool once a week. I keep about 6 inches of water inside the pool. This is a simple set up that works for me!
Great idea !!!
Your talking about the cloth bags right?
@@jstar1000 Yes, the blue cloth bags.
@@omachinancy I picked up similar type bags at Dollar Tree in the baby section (totes, $1.25/ea).
@@ASimplexity But they need to be the original blue bags. It's the material that it's made of that is what you need. Those other ones don't even feel the same. But, I don't know what you bought. Once you put them in the water, they soak up water and feed the roots and keeps the soil moist. I never need to add water to the bag itself!
This is a great idea to use as a above ground planter & water reservoir! Although the burlap will add protection to the pool edge from the sun & help the pool to look more natural , help with wicking moisture & cooling, the constant sun exposure WILL cause the burlap to break down over time and the burlap will crumble away and will need replacing in about a year or two.
I have been doing this for years myself and it makes watering so much faster and easier in a large garden. I know you want to extend the life of the pools but I really like seeing the blue in your garden, it looked lively and beautiful. Oh and during the winter with no plants inside they are great water collectors. In California we have been in drought mode, so collecting water is a good thing. Make sure to use mosquito dunks if your water is still in the pool as it warms up. They will not harm your plants but will save you from tons of bites and itching!
I did this last year and it worked except for the fact that birds would come and bathe in or drink from the water, even though there was a bird bath within 4 feet of the pool. I ended up wrapping the pool with bird netting. Even still, a local groundhog chewed through the netting to get to my zucchini.
That ground hog makes a great Sunday dinner.Thank the lord and pass the bisquits.
I grew lettuces, kale, spinach and onions in those blue pools last summer. We have such a gopher problem, I can't put anything in the ground. I didn't do anything special with them other than put holes in the bottom for drainage..worked great! I will be using the again this year..
I've been using them for years for shallow root plants. Works great!
We use a kiddy pool, add water then stand our pot of green beans up out of the water on a couple of bricks in the middle, it keeps slugs and snails away from the plant.
A moat for the plants! Lol.
Poison blue plastic water, sounds great for dinner
@@alymshep explain please, I don't get your point. What part of " up out of the water" did you not understand.
You could also attach fishing lure weights to the burlap to better hold down the fabric for places with heavier wind conditions.
FANTASTIC idea! I have a large lawn that I want to convert most of to raised beds. I can plop the pools just where I want and hpoefully the sod underneath will expire. My soil is PNW clay and rock. Tons of trapped nutrients in it but it takes a lot of amending to loosen up. I've used the same grow bags in small sizes to grow up plants while deciding permanent location, they work great. I also love the idea from another commenter about composting in the center.
Great idea! We used these in our first few years, to get more gardening space. We found that here in South Florida, the blue ones lasted about 3 years, growing year round. Stay away from the pink ones, as they deteriorated after just one year. Not sure why, but the pink plastic crumbled quickly. If you are in a more northern part of the US, I am sure you can get many years out of the blue ones.
Giggling as I read this, because we use them (also here in soFL) as additional watering stations for livestock during the summer. Same thing - we may get a couple years, but they break down more quickly in South Florida.
They last a little longer here in coastal AL near the FL panhandle. The UV/Radiation rays are killers anymore with any plastic...even the ABS plastic lawn chairs/furniture. But I've had to start planting my garden (I use raised beds & huge plastic tubs (cattle mineral tubs) in partial shade as things you used to plant in full sun now get burned to a crisp. Started this several years ago when my tomato & bell pepper plants literally FRIED in the full sun (leaves were crispy). When I get sunburned working in the SHADE...something just ain't right anymore with things, if you know what I mean!
@@DeepSouthBamaGRITS I am sure your winters are a bit colder than ours, but we grow tomatoes in the winter. I definitely think there have been more uv rays. Our tomatoes got sunburned this year. Not the plants, the actual tomatoes. We are almost finished with them for the year, although I have a few in mostly shade that are still holding on. Once the temps and humidity get too high, they will also be finished. I have also found that the gray tubs from walmart last pretty well. Don't use the clear ones, though.
@@weegardenhomestead805 I'm in grow zone 8b (almost 9) and we can usually grow tomatoes til our 1st frost which is NORMALLY in December/January. With the right variety we can grow thru the summer but our heat/humidity shuts down production. If I grow an indeterminate variety I can prune them back once the heat/humidity shuts them down and they will continue to grow and start producing again for the fall. We had a massive heat wave several months this past summer along with a severe drought & lost most all veggie harvests as the UV rays was worse than the heat/drought. My tomatoes came back as usual and were producing tomatoes when we had an unexpected frost/freeze in Oct. I had covered my tomatoes & peppers (that I had also pruned back) and they survived the one night freeze/frost but the November one got the tomatoes. I dig up my bell peppers and put in pots in the greenhouse to plant again the following year. That way I get a head start with pepper production by having an established plant with a good root system. Our spring came WAY too early (in Jan this year) so everything was all messed up with planting, fruit trees blooming & setting fruit early. Then we had another unexpected freeze in March going from temps near 80(F) down to wind chill temp of 21(F)! I covered everything I possibly could but it wiped out my wild huckleberries & blueberries that were already turning from pink to blue. Literally burned the berries like they were freeze-dried, EVEN HEAVILY COVERED! It got the leaves (for the 6th time since October) on all my fig trees & killed 3 that were well-established & fruiting trees. Two did come back from the roots but one never came back. My fig trees have yet to fully recover as they had baby figs with that freeze. They really took a big hit being knocked back so many times in 6 months. It beats all I've ever seen with the warm/cold, warm/cold weather we've had that is NOT NORMAL for our area. So no veggies were harvested last summer (except for a few fresh-picked meals but nothing to put back), the Christmas freeze took out my winter garden completely (except for my garlic & onions) so no winter harvests and now no fruit harvests this year. Veggie garden that I started planting in January with my potatoes (I've already harvested) is looking good, so far. Our temps are much cooler than normal, tho, so everything is growing slower. Not sure yet if we are going to continue this cooler pattern and have a LONGER GROWING SEASON or it turn off hot as blue blazes like it did last summer and everything burns up. Only time will tell.
That is UNREAL that your tomatoes got sunburned but I don't doubt it after all I've seen that is unusual with our temps. Guess I'm going to have to start to learn new gardening techniques I've used for over 30 yrs & adapt to new techniques.
Praying that going from La Nina back to El Nino is not going to accelerate hurricane season this year.
Be blessed, be safe & happy gardening & bountiful harvests!
Deep South Bama Grits, I appreciated your entry so much. I live in Gulfport, MS & was in FL during the winter mo’s. This Spring I have had multiple different ornamental plants that have been in my yard for 20 yrs in different places not leaf out this Spring. I could not figure out what was going on. It must have been the warn/ freezing cycle you described. That is the reason I don’t grow early blueberries, only mid season. We’ll have to see if I get any this yr. Learned a lot from your comment.
I’d fill the pools with large rock. This would look so nice but still allow the pot to absorb water and you will get trace minerals in your watering as another benefit
I have the kid pool and fabric. Because I am reduced mobility, I took an old round kitchen table and I will put my pool on top of it!! Thanks for the idea!
This is wonderful! I have been very crippled now for at least 5 years and had to give up gardening. I just can't bend over anymore. But your suggestion of putting it up on a picnic bench...never would have thought of that!! Bless You Dear!! 🥰🌱🪴🌴🌹
Thank you for the great idea! Along with your great idea, I'm also thinking about digging and sinking a kiddie pool with drainage holes down into the ground. This should also protect sides of the pool from the sun & it will prevent invasive herbs in my garden such as peppermint from spreading too much.
This is an awesome idea. It might work for other spreading crops like comfrey.
If burying, put gravel down under it for better drainage of water.
@@barbarawehmeyer1274 good point 🙂
HDPE isn't automatically food grade, if that's the implication early in the video. The plastic can contain additives like dyes and softening agents that leach out of the plastic over time. The molding process can also introduce surface contaminants that aren't safe to consume. That said, it's probably safe to grow plants in. Just don't go thinking it's safe because it's HDPE--that isn't implied. Your typical five-gallon bucket is also HDPE, but you may notice that food grade ones are marked and sold separately. There's a reason for that, and it's not just to scam gullible people.
That is a fact…so make sure it is stamped with the number 2! Otherwise, it’s not safe for food.
@@pdaby123 The number identifies the plastic resin only, not whether the product is food grade. Other plastics may be food grade (#5, polypropylene, is common as it's microwave safe), and any plastic object can fail to be food grade for reasons having nothing to do with the particular plastic it's made of. If a product is sold for use with food, it may carry a food grade symbol depicting a knife, spoon, and fork in a circle. Another food grade indicator looks like a goblet and fork side-by-side.
If you want more information, there's a Wikipedia article called "Food contact materials" that covers the topic in more detail than I have.
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Thank you so much for this information. 💛
Ya he obviously doesn't know this.
when i moved into my house, there were about 6 of those old recycle bins in my garage... Ive been wanting to garden for quite some time, but with the FL heat, and summer monsoons... I have a hard time with some veggies- spec Tomatoes- they litterally just melt in the sun. I got the idea to re use those old recycle bins and use them for gardening. they are food grade safe, and I put them on my screened patio- this way I can control the water as well as BUGs! I have planted some squash, green beans and decided to try some cucumbers... I hope it works, bc ive been trying to eat better and food is so expensive!
As a long time Floridian we typically grow in the winter. Summer heat is too much for most vegetables.
Living in the south where we get lots of floods, the only garden I can safely grow things in are raised garden beds, so I love ideas like this where you can use it at higher levels. Thanks for the tips and ideas!
Great idea....right on about increasing the longevity of the pools - but I must say I really like the blue colour. Makes me think of water pools and gives the overall green a nice punch up! Good job! 👍
I'm with you, I like the blue! I think I'm going to run down to the store and buy a purple one too lol!
I thought the blue pools looked very pretty.
I really appreciate the great content. Simple, effective, and attractive way to make gardening more accessible and less intimidating! I loved your inclusive approach as my wife is a PTA and works with handicapped people. She always is trying to help improve others body mechanics and your approach is a great easy to understand solution. On another note......I worked for the cable company for 8 years and had many a coworker cut a terrible end on a ziptie, and somehow through all that time I have never seen anyone so simply cut a clean end on one!
My friend used plastic kiddie pools to grow gouramis once (aquarium fish). They live naturally in stagnant water, so a few water changes now and then was all it takes. They did well, and by the seasons end, he had a lot of them. The trouble is, no one wanted them. They are nice aquarium fish, but are cheap as chips thanks to the massive fish farms in Florida flooding the market with them. He ended up giving away all he could, then moved the rest into his aquaculture set up. They are not cold tolerant so they lived out their days in his greenhouse. I think he replaced them with tilapia eventually, and ate them.
I have always wanted to do that after reading an ancient aquarium book that came out before there were pumps etc. A gentleman had raised them in an old clawfoot bathtub in his back yard. I love aquariums and gardening,! I wish I had the man power and money to install a set up to grow fish for food, so Im not the only barbarian eh?
Ìji
It’s funny how you used fish and chips in the same comment. 😊
@@susanmetz9892 🤣
My mom used to grow Lilly pads in a kiddy pool and she kept gold fish in there. They would get huge.
What a great system! I imagine these will be showing up in large numbers after folks see this. Expertly demonstrated! 👍
I would of never thought about a plastic swim pool to grow a small garden in!! Very clever...guess I will be doing that very soon!! Thanks for sharing!
I have three kiddie pools and have been using them for 15 years. Works great...
Here in south East Texas we can have heavy down pours. For areas with heavy rains, I put a drain plug on one side and have the bed about 1" to 2" elevated on the side opposite the drain plug. My daughter uses the grow bags and loves them. I sent her you video also to my church ladies that garden. A note we see these pools tossed on the curb on trash pickup day. Great way to cut the cost. Plus you can get free pallets and even further cut the cost. Thanks for reminding me about these little pools for gardening.
We use 2 of those big blue pools, for animals water. We get a lot of flash flooding here, & have to be careful of planters that hold water outside. The floor rains will flood THEM, same thing with my buckets I use for planters. Clay dirt also holds lots of water we have a lot of that here ranging from red to black, been adding lots of extra organic matter to the planting beds
Putting holes in the sides of the pools/pots a few inches above the bottom reduces too much water trapped in the pools/pots that could drown your plants
I have 3 of these so far. Used them last year! Just turned the soil added some compost. Will plant tomatoes and herbs
I LOVE this! You have the BEST ideas for down to earth approaches that are cost effective! I've used more than one of your ideas and I'll use this one to expand on my front yard garden (where the soil is terrible and unusable). Thanks!!
I had a couple of these pools set up as garden beds for several years at my last house, and they worked great. I put branches and sticks on the bottom after punching some holes, to lessen the account of soil I'd need.
Our local toyshop for a bunch of damaged pools, and offered them for a donation, which they in turn donated to a local charity! I think I paid $5/each.
I started some perennial Good King Henry seeds from my own plant in one - it's drought hardy, so the soil around it doesn't foster seedlings as well as the bed!
I bought 2 pools last summer and my german shepard bit holes in them. I've been wondering how to cut them up to get rid of them. I am so excited to do this!! great idea!! thank you for the upload
Thanks for the great idea. I live in an RV camp, we can't put anything permanate in, this will allow me to have a small veggie garden.
Thank you for including the materials and sources. That is so helpful to others who want to build the same or similar item.
Turntable hack to twirl it around…sun effect as well as accessibility for someone in wheelchair etc. I don’t have the idea exactly but maybe marbles between two pools? The burlap would have to be recalculated…maybe🤷🏼♀️. The outside pool would have to be cut off below the level of the burlap. Of course this would not be something you would want to make a lot of because of the two pool situation but for a special needs gardener that you really want to enjoy this.
We used our kiddy pool as a whelping box for our dog. This is another great idea.
Wish I thought of that last year with eight pups!
They work great. I used smaller bags and planted popcorn. About 3” up we drilled a drain hole. Just don’t leave them in the garden if they start to break down.
I use the 5 gallon cloth pots in a 30 gallon container the same way to bottom water or self wicking.
Really impressive session. I like the attention to detail, beginning with the instructions on just the burlap covering. I'll be looking at your other videos! THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your time!
I love wicking beds and using those fabric pots with the pools is genius. I need to pick up a fee for some citrus seedling I'm babying until they get a little bigger. Excellent video brother!!!!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the upgraded look!! Thank you so much for sharing this!! Anyone know what plants grow best in those grow bags. So far I’ve only ever used them for potatoes, but I honestly don’t know if it would benefit or hinder potato growth to water them this way. 😂🤷♀️
You asked what to plant. Much depends on your purpose, food or ornamental? Either way, ask the plant nursery for "shallow root" items. The pools aren't very deep. Potato is great for setting in a deep bag at the center with small bags around the base. While the pool itself is filled with water, you can use a wicking system for water sensitive plants.
What a brilliant idea! Flower 🌸 vegetable 🥕 herb 🌿 tomato 🍅
I had a great crop of about 100 onions last year in my small kiddie pool. Just planted about 100 more in it a few days ago.
I bought 3 about 10 years ago to use for water for animals and a place for frogs to lay eggs. So far 2 still doing great the third got a crack so we repurposed for a chicken scratch area. I wish I would have though of the burlap, looks much nicer than that bright blue.
New Subscriber here. Thank you for including the handicapped in your gardening information and ideas.
I did this method back in 2015-2016 when the pools were half that cost. It worked great but we get an excess of rain and mosquitoes here so I just started putting my bags directly on the ground and they do just fine.
A lady said she split a mosquito dunk in half and put it in the water and had no mosquitos.
I put rocks and sand in the water....and no mosquitos so far.
Wow, this is exactly what OI've been looking for. My spouse had a community garden for years. But thanks to M.S. had to give it up. I/ve been trying to plan out ways to accomidate. I will have to check on chemicals in he pool, but after that it looks great! THANK YOU
Put guppies in the water area to naturally fertilize and take care of mosquitos
Solid idea.
Ditto!
Guppies? Huh?
Brilliant❤
Yup! They work great! Been using them now for about 5 years with my strawberries, spinach. and lettuce.
Great idea, especially the burlap. Slugs will hate that burlap. Going to try that on some of my regular raised beds. Along with some new plastic pools!
Benn using kiddie pools for at least 20 years and they never fail! Of course, I am game to use about anything to grow in! Nice Cover for it, as you said, looks more natural💞
Pro tip about burlap: ask your local coffee roasters. They may have stacks of free bags!!
Coffee roasters, do you mean like a Tim Hortons coffee shop?
Brilliant 👌
Cheaper than zip ties after buying a Speedy Stitcher Sewing Awl; It uses a waxed heavy thread that can also be used to sew heavy canvas or leather.
QUESTION:: Do you need to put holes around the sides just below the inner jute line so that the water will not wick up and out of the pool? Also to allow for excess rain water to run out?
I have thought about using these pools before as grow bed. What soil do you use to fill it? I’ve also considered using the cloth planters inside it as well. Great minds! I have also used planters and buckets inside the cloth planters because of a possible move to a different area. And filled it with mulch or wood chips to help keep moisture inside and protect the roots in winter.
On a sidenote, the chickens love their pool for a dirt bath! Thank you for the video.
People are always throwing away palettes, so this is a great way to save hundreds on a raised bed. Thank you!
what a fantastic garden idea, this is one of the best I've seen in years, you are very clever, I should know , i've been a gardener since I was 10, now I'm 74.
thankyou so much for sharing. P.S. they look like giant pies!!!
If placed on the ground you could have mice & other small critters in, under it. I've have that setup. In my opinion the drainage holes goes inch or 2 above the bottom
This is a great idea. I like that this can be moved since I have big trees that block the sun differently at different times of the growing season.
That's genius! I didn't know those kiddie pools were that cheap. I see construction crews using them to mix cement in. I was even baptized in a kiddie pool! (the priest had it decorated so you couldn't tell what it was)
thank you for your sweet ass advice!!!!!!!!!😅 i meant this message for the creator but im going to read your comment too
😅🙏🏻🌸🌺🧡🎶💐🌼🌷🪷
They work great for onions, garlic, herbs, and potatoes. Also flowers
Brilliant & such a good instructor....methodical& detailed. Thankyou!
Thanks for sharing. I did the same thing this past year using my granddaughter’s old sandbox I drilled holes in the bottom of it for drainage nice and big and I’ll be putting vegetables in mine this year.
I love this idea. We buy kiddie pools for our runner ducks to swim and bathe and another larger one for our dogs but now I might have to buy another one for all the grow bags I just bought. We still have snow on the ground so it could be a couple more months before they are on sale here though
what are your grow bags made of?
For a couple of Dallas, you could just spray paint the outside of the pool green, blends in ..
I love love this idea. I live in the Mojave desert and it’s truly nearly impossible to have a garden. But I haven’t given up. I really want to try this. My concern is the depth of the soil, with the little pools being only under 8 inches.
place grow bags inside the pools and nice mineralized desert sand around them to nourish your plants each time you water.....place drainage holes on sides of the pools (height of holes depends on what you are planting or how often you want to water)
This is what I found with the kiddie pool I had. The one I had is the little eye shaped design on the bottoms had broken out of it so I had all these small pieces of blue plastic that I had to clean up. Which is probably good because it breaks down faster if it goes to the land fill. That’s the only downside for me. It took a couple years of use but inexpensive to replace. Thank you for the burlap suggestions, that’s a great idea!
Thank you, this is exactly what I needed to see today. Bought my kiddie pools last year and am ready to start this spring.
You need to have more kids now. It is rather like buying Carter's clothing.
Soooo my ground squirrels would prefer the burlap, great ladder lol so this is genius! If I elevated it slightly my plants will be safe!
I was already planning on doing this but good to know what size grow bags fit inside that size pool. I've used kiddie pools for 3 years as planters and hate the blue color. Also not impressed with growing directly in the pools but like you I thought they would make great "saucers" for the big grow bags and pots, especially if we have another drought
Kiddie pools saved our garden from the drought last year. We were in the process of making raised beds and needed something to keep the plants moist until we had finished them. Our tomatoes flourished! We have several sizes of pools, some for plants in pots and some for our ducks to swim inside. We will be using the pools again this year as we had so much success.
I lived in Santa Clara almost 20 years and snagged a couple of kiddy pools on the highway and Craigslist FREE. Layer of straw, layer of soil, and seeds made for a great garden. Now I'm back in A2 Michigan, getting a guilty pleasure running water 🌊 Nice work brah 💯. Hi to Alice too. 👍🌞
Thanks, Dan!! you are always so thorough in explaining how to do something and I really appreciate that. Hadn’t thought of this before. Great idea.
I was using totes last summer. They became brittle and started cracking. I'm getting rid of them and building cement block beds this year. The cement blocks will last many years.
I didn't see where you put an overflow (or drainage hole). Since I live in SW Florida we get a lot of rain so I put a cork in the bottom if I got too much water. Likewise I placed an overflow hole about 2" up on one side. This kept the pool from flooding. If it got really bad I raised my five gallon cloth bags with bricks to keep just the very bottom of the bags in the water. It was great for growing turmeric.
great idea
What a brilliant idea, I can’t believe I never thought of using the kiddie pools 🤦🏼♀️. When my GSD passed away I used her old plastic bed for growing plants, unfortunately, over the years the weather made it brittle. I will definitely be making a few of these for the garden.
This is my first time at attempting to grow some food. This video is just what I needed!
I guess I'm not too old to be learning this today. I wish I was done! I did learn how to twist off a zip tie without some knife danger, today. I don't think I've ever tried that. If I did I wasn't successful. Very useful and helpful all around. Thanks for your knowledge. I bet it turns out unbelievably great. Great show.
Went yesterday and bought 2 kiddie pools at Target ($12 each) - nice thing is, in addition to the bright blue, they had a darker teal which I find blends much better into a green garden!; )
Thanks so much for the tip to check Target by another commenter!:p👍✨
I buy only the blue kiddie pools now, I bought some pink ones last year and the sun faded them out really bad, tbe blue are still looking great after 5 years, now I will try other colors if I can find them, the teal ones sound awesome for my flower beds 🫶✌️🌻
YES! You are a smart man. I just started container gardening and cant afford the containers to expand. Thank you!
I use kiddy pools as a brooder.I have one in the bird room now w 11 chicks.
That's a great idea.
don't they hop out
One could even stack a few stone around the pool and a small bag of mortar mix.
Does the canvas bag and burlap get moldy? We have a lot of rain and a lot of mold here in Florida.
I'm in GA (moved here from Tampa 20 years ago) and we get a ton of rain too, but not as much heat and humidity. I love the fabric pots and we have several 100 and 150 gallon bags, as well as small ones I use for herbs. We've had no mold or mildew on any of the bags after almost 4 years, though one has moss growing on the outside, which I think is cool. Kicking myself that we didn't think to put them in the kiddie pools, because once you fill them they are HEAVY. As for the burlap, having used it in crafting, I'm betting it dries too fast to get moldy. Even with this premium burlap, there is airflow in the weave and the fabric is very thin.
I tried canvas drop clothes. They do mold.