Kitchen Garden Forum

Just to say that the pipe planter featured in KG last year, has turned out to be a real winner.
Have set up a 6 m long one in the polytunnel, and a 2.4 m one in the fruit cage for strawberries. Both are producing prolifically.Great idea!

Welcome to the Forum chrisg,
My strawberries were small this year but the plants are six or so years and probably need replacing!Any chance of you posting a photo of your pipe planter?

Is this still available anywhere? Suspect this was before I subscribed.

Forgive my ignorance but what is a pipe planter ?

Is it the lengths of gutter pipe? I've never tried it because there doesn't seem to be much soil to support a big crop and I imagine they will need a lot od watering.

I'd be very interested to see/hear from people who've used these about type of crops, yield and amount of water needed.

If your plants are that anvcient, I would definitley take some runners now, and replant for next year. As for a photo, well I`1m getting on for 80, and I`m not sure how to go about that! Sorry. The planter is standard plastic drainage pipe, with 3" holes cut 42 apart, and i incorporated a length of fast leak soaker hose for watering. Hope that helps.

Hi Primrose,
If you read my reply to Snooky, I think you`ll get the idea of this thing.

Is it a simple variant of this?

This looks interesting very neat & tidy making good use of space.

Not my idea of gardening at all. It looks ugly controlled and fiddly. Probably designed by someone who liked playing with Lego.

Still if they get good clean crops and are happy with how it looks I'm sure it's fine for them. Perhaps they don't like soil.

Not sure whether this has been adopted on a commercial basis. I'd have a number of queries:
How easily do you replace the exhausted compost?
What do you do when cropping. Pull plants out? Or cut them off at the base?
What happens to bulky or thick roots which are left in residues of the hole?
Can you replant using the same compost?

Innovative idea though. Perhaps this is how they'll have to grow food on the next batch of space crafts on long journeys exploring outer space.

The one in the original article was rather different.

Thanks Geoff!

Not at all what I thought - not for me though as that would push Mr Westi over the edge - he's a 3 step type of person & as it doesn't mention 'No Nails' (although happy with the mention of silicone), I would not be able to bodge the result. I think it is a great idea though - I can see why chrisg is finding it good.

Have so far, only grown Little Gem lettuce, Rocket and strawberries in this thing, and have been delighted with the results.
Salads were planted in alternate holes as a guard against botrytis etc. (e.g. 8" apart), whilst strawberries were planted in every hole.( e.g. 4" apart!)
All worked well.
Salads were carefully pulled up rather than cut, leaving as much compost in the pipe as possible. Replanting in the same compost seems to cause no problems, and clearly, you can always top up the level before replanting, if necessary.
To empty at the end of the season, I intend to just rotate the pipes upside down in their wire supports, and let it fall out!
As one or two folk have mentioned, watering is quite a major part of this, and I am still working on the best solution.

I like the fact you went for this idea & had the talent to make it. Take a pic chrisg - share your variation as it is obviously successful!