Starting a garden in a plastic kids pool?

[Francis Barnswallow]

I'm close to being ready to start another garden, but I just don't have the space. I wanted to extend the garden I have now, but doing that would block the view of the lake. So would using those plastic kids pools be a good idea? I have space for them on the side of my house.

[Bobberman]

Actually I did that 3 years ago inside my greenhouse and it worked great for my parsley. You may need a hole or drain in the bottom so you don't get to much water in it! Its just like making a raised bed. depending how deep it is shallow root crops like lettuce vine crops peppers should do great! Mine was about 4 foot in diameter and a foot deep! I also have some swiss chart growing in it . Good Luck!

[starwood]

Wow, this does sound like a great idea for an easy raised bed. Drainage would be important, but consistant watering would also, since it would dry out quickly.

[DeborahL]

That's what I'm going to do as soon as kiddie pools are at Walmart. I want to plant a garden for my rabbits with dark lettuces, radishes for the greens, bok choy and parlsey. I give up on carrots.... all I got was threads.

[cynthia_h]

Deborah, I don't know why I didn't suggest that you grow greens for the bunnies: mustard greens, turnip greens (same seeds as turnips), collards, chard, etc. Depending on exactly where you are, these will do well through April or throughout the summer for you.

If you can completely control the texture (tilth) of the soil, as you can in the kiddie swimming pool, the carrots and other root veggies will have the ease of growth they want. But they're also cool-season growers.

::slapping self on forehead::

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[DeborahL]

Thanks ! Rabbits can't have beans or anything beany but they love collards !
I just wish the window box type carrots would become CARROTS !

[Francis Barnswallow]

Would tomatoes do well in the pools? That's pretty much the reason I may do this.

[DeborahL]

Cynthia, I think I need computer glasses-you didn't say anything about beans !

[DoubleDogFarm]

Would tomatoes do well in the pools? That's pretty much the reason I may do this

I don't see why not. I would go for one of the darkest colored pools they have. For me it would absorb a little more heat. Also like Bobberman said,

You may need a hole or drain in the bottom so you don't get to much water in it.

Several holes.


Eric

[applestar]

Why not try ROUND carrots like Tonda di Parigi or Parmex

[DeborahL]

Great idea ! Thanks !

[Ozark Lady]

I used kids sandboxes (almost the same thing) in 2010, with nice holes in the bottoms.

I placed them underneath the power line.

They got too much sun. I needed to water them 3-4 times per day!

The tomatoes in the soil next to them, did alot better.

My vote is: no! Unless you can place them in the shade and use alot of organic matter in your soil to hold the moisture.

I will turn mine into compost bins for 2011.

[Francis Barnswallow]

How big should the holes be?

[alaskagold]

as many holes as you can put in the bottom.

if you have a drill... go hole hog wild. The more holes the better the drainage.

[TWC015]

I don't know how well this will work in the summer, especially with tomatoes. The tomato plants will grow lots of roots that collect at the bottom and they will need lots of moisture. You will probably have to water multiple times a day and if you forget/cannot water for a day or two, the plants will probably be toast. Also, you will have to keep the soil evenly moist or you will have problems with blossom end rot.

I'm not saying you should not try this, but do realize that this will probably be more trouble than growing them in the ground.

I have to disagree with Eric on the dark colored pool for this. In Orlando, I think a dark colored pool will absorb too much heat. There will already be heat problems with this setup and a dark color will only compound this.

[cynthia_h]

I'm close to being ready to start another garden, but I just don't have the space. I wanted to extend the garden I have now, but doing that would block the view of the lake. So would using those plastic kids pools be a good idea? I have space for them on the side of my house.

Which side of your house would the kiddie pool be on? North, south, east, west?

The heat build-up that other responders are concerned about will be most noticeable on the west side of the house and secondarily on the south. The east would be a good location; north depends on how much sun that side of your house receives.

Cynthia

[DoubleDogFarm]

I have to disagree with Eric on the dark colored pool for this. In Orlando, I think a dark colored pool will absorb too much heat. There will already be heat problems with this setup and a dark color will only compound this.

TWC105,

I'll have to agree with you 100%, but I did say for me

By the time you drill many holes in the bottom, you might as well just cut the bottom out.

Eric

[TWC015]

I have to disagree with Eric on the dark colored pool for this. In Orlando, I think a dark colored pool will absorb too much heat. There will already be heat problems with this setup and a dark color will only compound this.

TWC105,

I'll have to agree with you 100%, but I did say for me

By the time you drill many holes in the bottom, you might as well just cut the bottom out.

Eric

Sorry, I didn't notice that you were referring to yourself. That makes sense since you are in the Pacific Northwest.

[Francis Barnswallow]

Which side of your house would the kiddie pool be on? North, south, east, west?

They'll be on the NNW side of the house. I had tomato plants planted there years ago and they produced many tomatoes.

[jal_ut]

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Perhaps a tomato would grow in a kiddie pool, but I think it will be severely handicapped. I think keeping it watered will be important. Plants that have unlimited room to send roots also have a large volume of soil from which to gather water and nutrients.

What is the ground you would set the pool on like? Does anything grow there? Grass, weeds? If so, why not cut 80% of the bottom out of the pool and let the roots go down? You could put down some newspaper then the pool then fill it with whatever you are using as a growing medium. This would smother any weeds or grass, yet let the roots of your crops go down.

[Odd Duck]

Thanks ! Rabbits can't have beans or anything beany but they love collards !
I just wish the window box type carrots would become CARROTS !

Why couldn't rabbits have beans? I've never heard of there being any problems with rabbits having beans of any sort. I don't think rabbits should have excess veggies, they can have pretty much all the dark, leafy greens they want unless they're stubborn and don't eat enough of their grass hay if allowed too much greens.

I generally recommend bunnies get around 50% grass hay (including the stems), 40% dark, leafy greens, and the remaining 10% is other veggies, fruits and pelleted food (even if it's grass hay based pellets). The other veggies can be nearly any veg and variety is best. The biggest problems I see with bunnies is overfeeding pellets, veggies (especially carrots), sometimes fruits, and not enough long-strand, grass hay. They get dental problems, gastrointestinal problems and urinary problems just for a start on the list.

What is it about beans that's an issue?

[Bobberman]

That was alot of reading and very informative! My conclusion oplanting tomatoes in a small swimming pool would call for making alot of sbout 2 inch holes in the bottom! The reason for the two inch holes is to let the roots go deeper and at the same time give the pool strength by not cutting out the whole bottom! Tomatoes seem to grow better without prunning as far as amount of tomatoes from one plant. The earliness f the tomato is another question and I would say only prune a few tomatoes for the early tomatoes! I think planting suckers in july would give alot more crops and a larger late yeild!. What do you all think?

[Bobberman]

We had five rabbits but only a few left. Anthing that gives a rabbit gas is very bad for them. I have given mine dandelion especially the flowers! Radish leaves seem to be something they like. I use rabbit manure all the time! I hate to get away from the subject here!

[DeborahL]

Odd Duck, it's The House Rabbit Society's diet guideline that says rabbits should not have beans or cabbage. They can have broccoli and Brussels sprouts though.
My vet says 1/4 cup pellets per day, and no "salad" bigger than my hand. Their favorite fruit is blueberries.
They eat nearly two litter boxes of timothy hay a day. I get huge boxes of long strand hay.
I let dandelions grow and keep them watered for the rabs.
Rabbits cannot have chlorine or flouride, so I buy spring water gallons for them.
I have two rabs, Salt and Clove, both strays I trapped and tamed.
I love my boys ! My cats, Pepper and Spice, love them-Pepper even grooms them !

[DeborahL]

I hope I don't get scolded for not sticking to the topic !

[Odd Duck]

Sorry, one more off-topic post if you all can stand it.

I don't always agree with the House Rabbit Society's diet recommendations. I have great respect for the work they do and they have one of the best websites available. But, they also commonly recommend whole oats as a treat (or at least they used to) and I've seen too many problems from whole oats irritating or even migrating into the oral tissues. They also recommend rolled oats at far higher amounts than I would. If they think green beans are too starchy and gas inducing, wait till that bunny eats that nice, starchy rolled oat treat! I suspect we should be more specific about the beans we're talking about. I wouldn't necessarily recommend pinto beans, but green beans are fine in moderation. Nearly any vegetable is fine IN MODERATION!

I think many owners get too carried away and feed a bunch of something without considering that you are never really feeding the rabbit, you are feeding it's gut flora - meaning the microbe population in their cecum, in particular. Rabbits get only a fairly small portion of their total nutrients from the stomach, it's much more from volatile fatty acids (VFA's) from fermentation in the cecum that is absorbed directly across the gut wall. Many of their vitamins come from eating the cecotropes or "night stools".

I also have always disagreed with the amount of pellets they recommend. I start limiting pellets at a younger age for most breeds (larger breeds can have higher amounts longer as they take longer to grow to full size). If they specify grass hay based pellets, the volume they recommend might be tolerable, but if most rabbits are fed that amount of alfalfa based pellets, they would have major urinary tract and dental problems within their first 2 years, not to mention obesity. I (and most other exotic experienced vets I know) recommend only 1/8 cup pellets per 5# of rabbit body weight per day. I think I first heard this at a conference from Francis Harcourt Brown's talk and I consider her to be the top rabbit medicine expert in the world. Don't hold me to that, it's been a LONG time that I've been recommending the lower amount of pellets compared to HRS.

I also recommend less veggies and much less fruit per day. Most rabbits must be pushed to eat enough grass hay to keep their gut and teeth healthy over their whole lifetime. If they are fed the amounts of veggies recommend by HRS, they will NOT eat enough hay. I would rather they get more leafy greens and WAY less veggies.

I know you don't have any reason to take my word over HRS, but I used to work at a clinic where myself and an associate saw around a dozen or so rabbits per week at least, along with Guinea pigs, chinchillas, and what ever other small mammal you want to mention. I saw around 70% exotics, at that clinic, admittedly mostly parrots/birds.

Sharon Hollars, DVM - feel free to google me. I haven't checked lately, but I used to be mentioned on a few exotic forums as a recommended vet. I guess I better go check![/I]

[DeborahL]

Sharon, I didn't know you're a vet !
I feed 1/8 cup pellets, not 1/4. I was thinking of what I scoop for both my boys.
I appreciate your information, I really do. Thank you !