Planting in old tubs?

[moongazer]

Has anyone planted in old tubs?
So many give them away here when remodeling and
it sure would save on materials for raised beds.
The sides can be painted to look pretty or just green like
grass.
I'm seriously considering getting like 10 of them to plant in.
I have the wood to make frames for them to sit on so they don't roll. It would limit where I have to put the slug bate,

Any ideas or opinions on this?
I don't know if the enamel could be toxic?
I was thinking of drilling holes for drainage and then
putting about 6 inches of small rocks for drainage.

[bbird]

I think that is what other's have done with their tubs. As long as the drainage is good, it will work. I love them full of Tulip bulbs, I think that is so pretty.

I bet slugs will crawl up them though. I made raised strawberry beds because slugs are so bad here, but they still get in. I can't put out slug bait, so if you are able to you should do okay.

It's almost slug season here, I better make sure I have enough salt stockpiled.

[moongazer]

I hardly ever see slugs going up the tubs water trofts.

[kitaye]

bbird have you tried the beer bait method for slugs? Everyone at work swears by it.

I think using old tubs would be awsome for raised beds, especially if you can plant just one or two kinds of veggies in each. The enamel shouldn't be toxic unless there are major cracks in the glaze.

[bbird]

Yep, I've tried that and it works but the numbers of slugs we have is huge. We are right in the middle of old growth forest, and have only one area that we have taken tree's out of (I'm talking 100' x100') and all around us is heavily wooded. I've come to realize that the slugs outnumber me.

The best thing that works for me is going out when it is just getting dark and salting them, and then again when the sun is coming up. I also have a piece of plywood that I lay by the garden so everymorning I can lift the board up and kill the one's that seek safety under there.

I think I need to buy stock in salt, lol.

[bergere]

<Giggles> The Slugs here just get drunk and have beer parties. <LOL> Then you leave really interesting trails all over the place!

Have to say,,of everywhere I have lived...this is the worse place for slugs.

[Deleted]

Our big old stock tank finally bit the dust (too many leaks to keep plugging them), so Rich decided to recycle it. I told him I wanted a place to grow spearmint, but I didn't have any big pots that I could sink in the ground (and it will take over the whole county if it's not in a pot), so he suggested digging a big hole and sinking the stock tank (minus the bottom) so there's a 6" rim sticking above the ground. It's an 8' diameter tank, so that will give me a huge space to grow my spearmint, plus it's big enough that we can get the small push mower in there to cut it down when necessary.

Argh! More digging! But at least I'll have a nice place to put spearmint, and anything else that's invasive. Too bad I didn't think of this before I planted the coltsfoot. It's all over one side of the herb garden now, and it looks like it'll be out in the pasture by next year! LOL! That'll teach me to take it seriously when I read that something "can become invasive!"

If I had my druthers, all my stuff would be planted in sunken pots or tubs. It would make it so much easier to keep everything neat and clean, and I could weed between them without having to check the identity of every little seedling.

~Lannie

[kitaye]

Lannie, what do you use coltsfoot for? I read in a book that it was edible but I've never seen it before.

[Deleted]

Coltsfoot is an antitussive (cough suppressant). I have all these herbs around that are for colds & flu, sinuses, aches and pains, and stress. But now I don't suffer from those things anymore, so they're just out there growing.

I still use my comfrey on a regular basis though, because I'm always getting bumped, bruised, sprained, strained, or pulled. But at least I don't get sick anymore. Now it's just the odd injury here and there.

~Lannie