How to Grow Plants in the Tomato Bucket in 7 Steps

1. Mix potting 3 part potting soil with at least 1 part perlite by volume for drainage

2. Plant seeds or seedlings inside the Tomato Bucket

3. Drill a hole halfway in a 5-gallon bucket

4. Fill a 5-gallon bucket with water

5. Put the Tomato Bucket on top of the 5-gallon bucket

6. Place the Tomat Bucket under the right light condition for the plant

7. Water from the top once a month until excess water runs out of the drainage hole

 

What to Grow in the Tomato Bucket?

Hint: While it's technically possible to grow plants from seeds, growing plants from seedlings, cuttings, bulbs, or roots will be significantly faster! 

3 Guaranteed Wins for First-Time Gardeners

If you believe you don't have a "green thumb", the following plants are so easy to grow that you literally cannot fail. It's actually impossible! Try it! 

PLANT	SPEED	EASE
Radish (Seed)	30 Days	10
Green Onion (Regrow)	14 Days	10
Chive (Seed)	90 Days	10

3 Easy Herbs Essential for Home Cooks

If you are a home cook, consider growing the following herbs because they are easy and rewarding! Be sure to grow them in the right seasons and under the right light conditions to guarantee success. I personally always have a ton of Thai Basil growing! 

PLANT	SPEED	EASE
Basil (Seedling)	40 Days	9
Cilantro (Seed)	60 Days	8
Mint (Seedling)	50 Days	10

3 Easy to Grow Leafy Greens

Growing leafy greens is super productive because you eat the leaves instead of the fruit, which means most of the biomass will eventually be consumed! Below are some especially easy-to-grow leafy greens. 

PLANT	SPEED	EASE
Tatsoi (Seed)	50 Days	8
Swiss Chard (Seed)	60 Days	8
Bok Choy (Seed)	45 Days	8

3 Highly Worth It Easy Fruits

If you want the most bang for your time (and money), growing small fruits (or similar) with a big impact on our limbic system is the way to go!

PLANT	SPEED	EASE
Chili Pepper (Seedling)	80 Days	8
Raspberry (Seedling)	60 Days	7
Strawberry (Seedling)	60 Days	7

3 Highly Satisfying Plants to Grow

If you want to see plants grow really fast for a highly satisfying experience (such as for a science class), these plants will put out biomass so fast that you can almost see them grow in real time! However, since they are such fast growers, they might need more than 1 watering per month to feed their hunger!

PLANT	SPEED	EASE
Butternut Squash (Seed)	100 Days	7
Zucchini (Seed)	60 Days	8
Pole Beans (Seed)	60 Days	8

3 More Challenging (But Still Worth It) Plants to Grow

If you are a more experienced gardener and are willing to deal with potential pests, such as caterpillars, then these plants will be can be rewarding challenges! 

PLANT	SPEED	EASE
Tomatoes (Seedling)	80 Days	6
Cucumber (Seed)	100 Days	7
Kale (Seedling)	70 Days	7

 

4 Plant Light Levels Explained for Beginners 

If you are unsure, always start with bright indirect light! Most plants will do pretty well in bright indirect light!

1. Bright Direct

The plant can directly see the sun (if it can see)!

2. Bright Indirect

The plant cannot see very much blue sky, but it has a lot of warm bounce light!

3. Medium Light

The plant can directly see the sun (if it can see)

4. Low Light

Dark enough for people to feel comfortable watching TV during the daytime!

 

5 Plant Lighting Examples

Check your light conditions around 3 PM in the afternoon and compare your situations to the following examples! 

1. South Facing Room

2. South Facing Office

3. Backyard

4. Corporate Park

5. Vacant Lot Urban Garden

 

Suggested Planting Spacing

Follow the seed provider's mature spread (plant spacing) recommendation for container gardening. Seed packet instructions are actually really helpful! 

If the mature spread is 12 inches or more, plant 1 seedling per Tomato Bucket

If the mature spread is 10 inches or less, plant 3 seedlings per Tomato Bucket

If the mature spread is 8 inches or less, plant 5 seedlings per Tomato Bucket

If the mature spread is 4 inches or less, plant 7 seedlings per Tomato Bucket

If the mature spread is 2 inches or less, plant 20 seedlings per Tomato Bucket

 

3 Biggest Advantages of Tomato Bucket Over Traditional Gardening

1. Tomato Bucket requires only one watering every month!

2. This will save you a lot of time and water compared to traditional gardening!

3. Which will allow anyone to grow giant healthy plants quickly and easily, anywhere!

 

7 Reasons You Should Start Gardening

1. Mental Health

Studies have shown that gardening can significantly lower stress and anxiety while significantly increasing happiness and well-being!

2. Quality Time

Both growing food and sharing the food grown can be enjoyed with family and friends, for a lifetime!

3. Eat Your Vegetables

When kids work hard to grow their own vegetables, they will always eat them with pride!

4. More Nutritious

Homegrown vegetables are much more nutritious than storebought vegetables because they are picked ripe, right before eating!

5. More Delicious

Homegrown fruits, such as tomatoes and strawberries, are much sweeter than store-bought fruits because big farms pick their fruits before they are fully ripened to extend their shelf life! Yuck!

6. Dramatically Lower Carbon Footprint

Did you know that vegetables are often shipped from over a thousand miles away to your local grocery store? Only half of all fruits and vegetables produced make it to your fridge due to cosmetic defects or spoilage. To top it all off, even when it does make it to your fridge, a good portion of fresh produce is probably growing molds in the back of your fridge simply because you've forgotten about them! With Tomato Bucket, you pick your food only when you want to, and not a moment before. Shipped right from your own backyard!

7. Save Money (or Even Make Money)

Growing vegetables in the Tomato Bucket can be 10X cheaper than buying them from the store over a 5-year period. Using the Tomato Bucket to propagate rare plants can even make you money!

 

Realistic Results Over 5 Years

If You Grow Radish from Seeds:

8 Crops Per Year x 7 Plants Per Crop x 5 Years =

280 Radishes PER TOMATO BUCKET

If You Regrow Green Onions from Bulbs:

25 Regrows Per Year x 20 Plants Per Bucket x 5 Years =

2,500 Servings of Green Onions PER TOMATO BUCKET

If You Grow Tomato from Seedlings: 2 Crops Per

Year x 15 Pounds Per Plant x 5 Years =

150 Lbs of Tomatoes PER TOMATO BUCKET

If You Grow Chili Peppers from Seedlings:

2 Plant Per Year x 100 Chilis Per Plant x 5 Years =

1,000 Chili Peppers PER TOMATO BUCKET

If You Grow Basil from Cutting:

2 Crops Per Year x 7 Plants Per Crop x 16 Ounces Per Plant x 5 Years =

1,120 Ounces of Basil PER TOMATO BUCKET (Average Pasta Recipe Calls for 1 Ounce of Basil)

 

 

Materials Safety Data

Tomato Bucket

Food safe UV resistant white high-density polyethylene (HDPE 2), one of the most food-safe and UV-resistant plastics commonly used to make:

• Milk bottles and reusable water bottles
• Extremely durable food containers used in the food industry 
• Plastic planter pots for growing food
• Outdoor water storage tanks for drinking water
• Most UV-resistant and food-safe plastic according to ChatGPT, Google, Bing AI, and FDA (Food and Drug Administration)

Horticultural Rockwool Plug

Food safe UV resistant asbestos-free horticultural Rockwool made from basalt (volcanic rock) commonly used to make:

• Horticultural growing cubes for growing hydroponic food commercially
  
• Horticultural growing plugs for starting hydroponic seeds commercially
• Widely accepted and used in both the commercial and also the hobbyist hydroponic community
• Rockwool is not a plastic sponge (kitchen sponge), so please don't substitute Rockwool with a plastic sponge (which can be toxic)!
• Rather, Rockwool is a stone sponge made out of basalt (volcanic rock) melted and then spun into fiber
• Because Rockwool is basically a really puffy rock, it is chemically inert, UV-resistant, and safe for growing food according to ChatGPT, Google, Bing AI, and FDA (Food and Drug Administration)

3 Safety Tips

1. Do not use buckets that once held paint, lead, or other hazardous materials or chemicals!

2. Tomato Bucket may be recycled in the recycle bin after 5 years of heavy sun exposure!

3. If grown indoors out of direct sunlight, the Tomato Bucket will basically last forever!

 

5 Quick Disclaimers

1. Some biomes, such as the desert, may require more than 1 watering per month during the dry season!

2. Not all plants, such as cacti, are suitable for growing semi-hydroponically!

3. Just because the planter is self-watering doesn't mean the plants will be immune to pests, such as caterpillars!

4. Faster-growing plants that retain a lot of water, such as watermelon, may require more than 1 watering per month!

5. Watering is only one component in the plant growth journey! Please grow the right plants during the right season under the right light conditions using the right fertilizers to further guarantee success!