In this episode of Around the Home, I show how to construct a garden barrel capable of housing 50 plants in a four square foot area. It includes a worm composting tube as well. I originally found this idea in the below video and it is well worth the watch. I am hoping it is a compact way to grow organic vegetables and compost at the same time.
Check out the June 2014 garden update video.
The Half-pint Homestead Video
Great video.
A few tips:
– the material of the barrels is not PVC, it is High-density polyethylene (HDPE).
– The right tools help.
– after drilling the holes in the corners of the pockets, plunge cutting with a circular saw is faster and neater than a jigsaw (if you know how to use one).
– A 1400 watt heat gun is quicker and is safer than a torch. Heat the outside for 30 seconds, the inside for 30 seconds, back to the outside for 30 and you are ready.
– a shaped 2×4 is a good pocket opening tool. Rounding the edges of the wood helps with the insertion. Take the other end of the 2×4 and cut about 8" of the length to 2×2.5 with a 30 degree angled point. Put this in after you open the pocket and hold it as vertical a possible. The 2.5" block rounds the pocket out nicely.
– a large towel dipped into a nearby bucket of water and squeezed just so it doesn't drip, is good for cooling the HDPE within seconds so you can move on to the next pocket.
These holes close up if you live in a hot climate. I used a light blue water barrel and the side facing south closed up so much that they killed the plants.
Love this idea. I live in the northeast what do you do with the worms for the winter? Put them in the ground after growing season?
thank you for sharing!
excellent presentation. Russ Cataldo from Knox, Pa.
Container lets too much light through…. imo!
Great idea !
nice work
it might be good to have some wheels on the bottom so you can rotate to catch the sun especially if its on a balcony.
Nicely done ..thanks for sharing…..i made some worms towers for my garden, basically just the tube parts in the center about 2ft long buried which i put a sm flower pot over to keep cap it to rain & critters out…I put food scraps & compost in them along w/ worms to start out i also have worm bins so just planting them all over the yard is agood thing worms visit for food and get out under my plants to do their business….I would suggest more holes in your tube make it easier for worms to go back n forth …i think i may just have to make a couple of these for strawberries
"Bead of silly-con!" LoL I'm DEFINITELY making this!!!
"Bead of silly-con!" LoL
I'll try some system. Thanks!
This is a very useful video for making a vertical garden barrel.
Could you take the plugs out and flip the barrel and cut the bottom for the top…then you have 2 drain holes…
This is a great project. Thank you for the video.
gonna try this…thx 🙂
At what setting did you have the heat gun and did you have the fan on it slow or fast?
how do you get the worms out so they wont freeze in the winter
6:58, no talking needed, just show kids this and they know what the birds and the bees is!