making containers

I love your diagrams! Yes, washers would be good. So that's 8 rows x 13 or more bottles x 2 washers = a lot of fiddling! Still, I'm retired now, time is no object!

Just planning a nice background colour for green plastic bottles - black, red, sage green, lime?

 

Yet another fab diagram! Where can you buy crimp-on ferrules?

I think I'd just screw a row of cuphooks along a batten and twist gardening wire onto it. But then I'm an incorrigible cowgirl.

 

Thank you for the compliments Madahhlia.
I used to do wiring/connection manuals and diagrams (for electronic systems) and some of the customers were Portuguese and French so to overcome the language barrier, I used to include lots of diagrams, guess the habit stuck.

As for the crimp-on ferrules, you can get them at:

http://www.s3i.co.uk/ferrule.php

You could also try Maplin and Farnell, they supply the electrical industry but tend to be on the expensive side.
The bigger hardware/diy stores should also stock them.
Don't forget to get the proper crimping tool (a cheap one will suffice).
Crimp-on ferrules come in all different sizes so it's important to get the correct ones for the application that will be able to withstand the weight.
To work out the weight, simply fill up a plastic bottle with the required amount of soil and weigh it, then multiply by the number of bottles in that column.
Theoretically one could divide the total weight by two (as there are two wires holding up each bottle in a given column) but rather don't and use the "extra" as a safety margin.

 

Forgot to mention, before weighing the bottle with the soil in it, add water to the soil until it's almost mud as wet soil weighs more than when dry.

 

You'm probably thinking of the steel galvanised tanks, don't think lead has been used for water tanks for a long while.

 

Dave your diagrams are ace!

I saw the bottle picture on pintrest and thought about it for herbs. I'll need to keep thinking for veg and fruit containers

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Thank you Snowbaby.

How big do you need the containers to be?
What I also thought about is using just the stands from wine chillers or the frame from old bar stools (preferably metal ones) both of which are often available for next to nothing from car boot sales and flea markets then pop into a shop like Pound World, buy some cheap plastic containers/buckets that will fit snugly into the "seat less" bar stools or stands for the wine chillers.

 

Well, this year my plans are to try:
Potatoes (got a potato bag for them)
Courgettes
Green beans (are these better in a bag or tub? )
Carrots
Strawberries

I want to do broccoli again as they grew really easily 3 or 4 years ago but I can't stomach the thought of the caterpillars in them - is it possible to keep them out?!

So aside from the potatoes, everything else needs a container. I have some long narrow plastic tubs, but ideally I want to grow more this year, even if it's more plants of the things listed above. My tubs aren't very deep so would like some deeper things for the carrots

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@Snowbaby

Sorry but when it comes to the best way to grow beans or keeping pests at bay, I haven't the slightest clue, in fact that was one of the reasons why I joined GC, to learn more about gardening and I must confess that I have learnt a lot by reading members posts and interacting, I certainly don't know enough to recommend anything to you.

Ideally how deep should the containers be to grow carrots?
Would the stacked tyres not be suitable for them?

 

Haa, found the answer here:

http://backyardfoodgrowing.com/how-to-grow-carrots-in-containers

 

Re growing carrots in containers,when I was showing we used to grow carrots in 40 gall.old oil drums,(this was to get then up to around 3 ft long)the barrels where filled with sharp sand,then you push an iron bar down to the bottom of the barrel and make a tapered hole 5 to a barrel .Fill this with compost sow a few seeds thin to one plant when easy to do,water round base of drum not on top as this will cause forking of the carrot. *This was for the long rooted varieties)
for stump rooted varieties you can use old plastic pipe say about 2ft 6ins long,sink them into the ground and fill with compost and do same as growing in drums.

 

Do you mean like the plastic down pipes used for roof gutters?

 

I successfully grew carrots last year in a tub, I'm no use with measurements but they were about half up my lower leg, to give you some idea. Carrots grew very easily, maybe beginners luck lol

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@Snowbaby
Interesting, what did you do for drainage?
From what I can gather, carrots need good drainage.

 

Poked holes all over the bottom of the tubs with a screwdriver lol!

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