If you live in a place where you can not plant a garden, you can do it in buckets. My husbands life long friend, Roger, has been growing food garden stuff in pots for at least the last 20 years. He can grow the most delicious beef stake tomatoes and they grow to huge proportions, even in a pot.

Where I live I am not allowed to grow a garden in the ground. I have a built in planter in front of my porch but the tree growing in the front yard blocks the afternoon sun, and the house blocks the morning sun, in which tomatoes love the most. It may get about an hour or two of high noon sun, but that's not optimal for most food garden plants, so this year I am going to try my plants in buckets and pots.

Roger grows his tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets. I asked my husband, "Why doesn't he just plant them in the ground? He owns his land!" My husband replied, "With all the trees around his property, he has to move the plants around to let them get enough sunlight." That sounded logical to me, so I am going to follow Rogers' idea of growing food in a pot. I can't bear to pay for another tomato from the grocery store, they don't taste like tomatoes and then there's the price. I guess having home grown tomatoes has spoiled me. So this year I am going to try my garden in a pot.

To grow tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets, Roger uses a specially prepared compost that he makes himself, but I am using half bagged soil and half clean dirt from the ground.

To prepare your bucket, poke holes on the sides of the bucket just above the bottom - not big holes though. Use a good sized Phillips screwdriver and a hammer and make 8 - 10 holes around the bottom.

Then put a layer or two of rocks in it, just enough to cover the holes. The rocks helps to keep the soil from coming out of the bucket during watering.

Now you can fill the bucket with the soil you want to use. You can use straight bagged soil or half bagged soil and some good clean dirt.

Be sure, as you are filling the bucket to wet the soil. Fill it about 1/3 full then add water. Then fill the remainder half full and add water. When you put the last of the soil in the bucket make sure to leave at least 3 inches of the top of the bucket visible. Water the last bit of soil. Now your bucket is ready for tomatoes.

Planting your tomatoes: Roger always puts two tomato plants per bucket. He likes to grow Beef Stakes but you can put any verity of tomato you like. I'm doing Early Girls, because they are usually ready in 50 days. Follow the recommended planting instructions from the plants tag.

Tomatoes enjoy full sun (morning sun is great) and the warmer the better, but with growing in buckets, you may need to water more often and depending on how hot the climate is. Be sure to keep the soil moist but not saturated. You don't want to get root rot from over watering. A good indicator that the plant needs water is if the leaves begin to droop. Try to prevent this, but if it does happen it is okay. Just water and the plant will be fine in just a few minutes.

I am also growing other food plants as well, like hot peppers, bell peppers, pickle cucumbers and squash.

I live in an apartment and I am looking at moving but I have tried to grow my own bucket garden but I don't have enough room on my porch but if I find a place to rent to own I am going to find the place that has a lot of room to roam.