Sticks......

I acquired half a dozen large plastic barrels last week (in addition to one that I already have), with a view to sawing them in half to make planters out of them; I will drill holes into the bottom of them for the sake of drainage, but was wondering about filling them up -- I reckon each half barrel will take 120-180 litres (not tried one yet), which is a hell of a lot of compost given that I have all my other baskets etc to fill too.

I have some old compost from last year that could go to the bottom I suppose, but I was wondering about a layer of something at the bottom first - ordinarily, this would be rocks/stones/broken bricks, however as I don't have any of these to hand I was wondering about using some of the twigs and sticks that I have tons of from the fallen buddleia tree, thus giving a layer of sticks in the bottom, then old compost (I can put weed suppressing fabric in between the sticks and the compost if it will help things), topped off with the new compost?

Or am I 'barking' up the wrong tree?

 

I don't see why not FC, just make sure there are no twigs with Buddleia seeds on though.. I recycle compost for some of my pots although I mix old & new compost together..
I don't think I would bother with weed matting though by the time your new compost goes in you should have a fair depth of compost.. Then as you water & feed you can pull any unwanted weeds etc..

 

I am absolutely certain @"M" - I don't have room for them to be used as rain barrels or composters (they are currently stacked up in a corner by the shed), and I am a bit cheesed off with the growbags that I have used for the past couple of years; each growbag is taking around 120-litres of compost to fill, but still only give a total depth of around 8-inches, which can reduce if the sides bulge out and the bag sags (pretty useless for carrots, and leeks for example). Moving them is a complete nightmare, as they just tear, there is planting space lost because they have two thick straps that run across the width of them, and being so low the dog (or anything else that feels like it) can simply hop on top and wander about at will.

The main idea is greater planting depth, but also to be a lot more sturdy. Initially, I was just going to fill them with a compost mix, but the more I thought about 14 planters full of compost, plus my troughs, baskets, tomato pots and greenhouse pots, the more I could see bankruptcy looming.

The tree is a goner already (its drying out on the patio as I type), and was only going to be burned, hence I wondered about using it as a filler - I might look and see if I can get some cheap gravel/rubble instead.

 

Ooooh, now I like the straw idea! I was originally planning on scattering the ash from the burner on the borders, assuming it would be beneficial to the soil structure (probably all the more important given the winter we just had)? I doubt I will be able to store the barrels for too long though (although I can get more), simply due to the way I have shoved them in just now - they are blocking access to the shed at the moment, as well as making it a military operation to get our bins out

Now, I wonder where I can get a few bales of straw around here..... hmmmmm......

 

Thanks for the offer @"M" - I reckon Mrs C might have a fit if I were to fill the car with straw and the odour of chicken and duck muck

There is a horse livery place not far from me - I'll butter them up for a few bales I think, and maybe some manure; A few trays of seedlings should about do the trick.....

If you have a bus/coach/lorry place anywhere nearby, its worth asking if they have any of their shampoo barrels that are going for recycling - they would almost certainly let you have them.

 

I am going to stick them on my patio @joolz68, where I currently have the growbags. The other thing I wondered about using was sharp sand, as its generally cheap as chips, and might even help with water and nutrient retention?

Now that is a cracker of an idea - sadly, I have no polystyrene! Wonder where I can get some from...........