55 gallon barrels & other plans

They are bound with metal rings on the outside - so should I still do this?

 

Sea Breeze:

The stave's, that Gardener mentioned are those metal rings. Those are pounded on by the barrel maker and not really fixed to to barrel it self.
Whiskey barrels are designed to be filled and stored in a "aging house" with a very controlled environment and temperature.
When using the barrels are use outside as for gardening, the temperature changes
cause expansion and contraction. The rings (stave's) can loosen up and slip, causing the barrels to fall apart......Hope this helps.........Dennis

Sorry about that, the wood parts are the staves, the rings are rings.
Good idea to drill the rings and screw into the staves....
Hope I didn't get everybody too confused....

 

Thanks Dennis

Drilling job this weekend then!!!

 

:lol my monkeys? They like just about any veggies. Especially the ones that can be eaten as finger foods. (which is most of them if nobody's looking) Broccoli & cauliflower are favorites though so I think we're just going to try them. I don't have cold frames... but we bury the containers so they're a bit more protected & cover them with remae. (sp?) I have the Square Foot Gardening book here - that was a HUGE inspiration to our gardening for the past 2 years

I've got peppermint & chocolate mint, compliments of Mom. The kids leave it alone, but I'll put it in EVERYTHING! Also chives, and we'll be growing some basil & cilantro... and I think I'm going to try lemonbalm & lavender again. (last year they didn't do so well but I'm hopeful)
love,
mom

 

We cleaned up our deck & went through the pots & things we had & my mom gave us... and I think we'll be okay with just two giant pots.


After rearranging things, we came up with this:

This is where the herbs & carrots will go... the arch is what I want the large pots for - one for each side, so the kids can have their mini pumpkins.

And this is the other side - I'd forgotten how many 10gallon pots we had running around! This ought to work for our peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes... and the strawberries in my strawberry pots on the table.

We'll be picking everything up to work in our "garden" tomorrow. I'm thinking that if worst comes to worst, I can always drag the pots indoors overnight if we have anything that doesn't mature before the first frost.
love,
mom