making containers

That would do it.

 

Fileyboy's earlier post of using plastic pipes gave me an idea, if one does not have pots/buckets deep enough to grow carrots in, why not stick the pipes into the container like so:



Or could even build a sort of pipe "array" and mount it against a wall:

 

Sent from my hitchiker's guide using the sub ether network.

Don't panic! He's Mostly Harmless.

 

Hehe awesome idea! Esoecially like the mounted pipes

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The pipes I used where the 100mm drainage pipes,I used to dig them down about 1ft into the ground and just fill with compost,them water around the base so that the carrot roots had to get down for a drink.(if you water on the top it could make the carrots fork) I also had an area that I made with concrete blocks.this was about 4 blocks wide by 7 blocks long and 3 courses high,again filled with sharp sand,holes made with an iron bar approx. 3ins at the top and tapered to the bottom.I could get about 60 carrots in this.

 

Any pictures of this. I'm curious what this looks like

 

Is this barrel made of plastic?
If so, first check the "construction" of the barrel as many molded/injected plastic receptacles only have strengthening on the top and bottom so it could lose lot of it's strength/rigidity by cutting it in half.
It may however still have enough strength to be used for planting.
It will depend on the wall thickness of the material used.



Try it on a big plastic soda bottle to see what I mean.

 

I've used old car tyres and the trunk of a dead leylandii tree to make a seesaw for my 2 lads. I've got two old car tyres one on top of the other for the central pivot. I've not filled them with anything because I wanted them to remain flexible, to act like a big spring for the seesaw to work. In initial tests to see if the plan was going to work, I found that the tyres stayed put even without being stuck together in any way.

Once I knew it was going to work, I simple drilled holes in the sides of the tyres so I could get a couple of bolts through, then I bolted the tree trunk to the tyres. It works a treat.

That also got me to thinking that they'd work well as bottomless containers, so I'm going to do that for my fruit bushes. Unless you put something tall and top heavy in it, I can't see the need to secure the tyres at all. Their own weight plus the weight of the compost in them will hold them still.

@DIY-Dave, I know it is a common concern about chemicals in recycled wood, but personally I wouldn't worry about it at all, unless it is some really nasty chemical that has long since been banned, in which case I wouldn't want that wood anywhere near me for any reason.

Consider what happens to such chemicals. Over time, lots of chemicals break down anyway when they react with air, water, UV from sunlight etc, fungi, microbes etc. Some will leach away with water when it rains. Any that hasn't gone after all that must be so well embedded in the wood that its unlikely to go anywhere.

After all that, any chemicals that do leak from the wood must then survive their encounter with the soil. At that point, much will simply wash away when it rains (I daren't even consider how many chemicals the actual ground itself harbours). Some chemical compounds are broken down by soil microbes or again react with water/air/light and break down.

After all that, it then has to get into the plants. That bit gets quite technical (and beyond my understanding) but there's some magic that happens in the plant cells that only allow certain types of molecules to pass, and those molecules have to react with other molecules in order to ensure the correct flow of water and nutrients in the plant. It basically means that for the most part, plants wont take what they can't use. Residual herbicides etc have to be engineered to trick the plants into taking up the chemicals by binding one molecule to another that the plant needs or some such witchery, but chemicals not specifically designed for that purpose will, in most cases, not be taken up.

If the chemicals made it this far, they then have to contend with the fact that plants, like all living things, have a metabolism of their own. They eat, drink and breath. That means that some chemicals taken in will either be broken down inside, or leached out through the plant.

I'm not saying that harmful chemicals never accumulate in plants, because I know they do in some cases. In fact this principle is exploited in a process called 'bioremediation', but it is not all chemicals and not all plants, and in any case, even in worst case scenario, if the plant is edible, looks alright and tastes alright, it is alright. You'll get a far great dose of toxins just by eating a commercially produced apple full of systemic fungicide and with insecticide all over its skin. Or eating your cornflakes for breakfast with all the mouse poo in it from where its been stored in a massive pile in some lockup, as well as been soaked in insecticides and fungicides.

So in summary, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

We're all Doomed!

 

@clueless1

I agree with 99% of what you are saying however the problem is that a large percentage of palettes will come in from China where there is absolutely no control over what chemicals are used.
I know that some plants/fruits/veggies have a tendency to "store" more toxins than others thus increasing the chance of contamination when planted in a container made from wood from eastern palettes.
I agree that with time, exposure to UV, rain and so on, these chemicals will break down.

Lovely thought about rodent poo in the breakfast cereal, but yes you are probably right.
Won't stop me having my Coco Pops though.

 

http://www.1001pallets.com/pallet-safety/

 

@Zigs

Very informative link thank you.

 

I hope I'm not coming across as some paranoid nutcase (oops too late for that ) but my attitude is simply that we are exposed to so much "rubbish" on a daily basis, that it's best to avoid as much of it as possible without getting too obsessed with it.