"Step 1...Drill 1/2" to 1" holes in the sides and bottom of a 5 gallon bucket in the lower half until it looks like Swiss cheese. You could also use large heavy planters.
Step 2....dig a hole large enough for your bucket to sit in. You want to go deep enough to cover all your drainage holes. I leave about 6" of bucket sticking out of the ground. This is the hardest part of the process for me!
Step 3...use the soil you removed from your garden, compost, and /or potting soil to fill your bucket. Fill it to about 2" of the rim. I use a mix of soil, dried manure and compost.
Step 4...put 1 tomato plant into the bucket. Plant it just like you would in a garden.
Step 5...water well.
Because the bucket is sunk in the ground it will draw in water from the surrounding soil as it needs it. The rim will help protect the plant from slugs and cut worms too.
You can use the food sticks you place around plants to feed your tomatoes. One placed in the bucket feeds the plant for about a month unless there are heavy rains. I use a good manure tea once a week. I don't use commercial fertilizers.
Place your supports right over the bucket to tie up your tomatoes. I place a stake in each bucket as I am filling it with soil to help support the young plants. I tie name tags to the handles of the buckets to keep track of my varieties.
Another benefit is weeding. Cover the ground around the buckets with thick layers of newspaper. No weeds and the ground is kept moist. To keep the newspapers from blowing away I cover them with old screens until I can cover them with grass clippings and compost. (I get the screens from habitat for humanity for 50 cents each) This keeps the soil improving so I can have rich soil for next year. The whole garden works something like a compost pile around the buckets.
After the season is over I simply pull the bucket out of the ground and dump it over! I work the ground up with a tiller and it is ready to go next year. You can try this with just one or two buckets. It is important to cover the soil around your bucket to help keep moisture available to the plant.
Another thing is to water the bucket until the water is standing almost to the rim once a week. This will drain out through your holes and into the surrounding soil and then pulled back in as your plants need it. And don't think this will only work for tomatoes...I have used buckets for peppers and eggplants.
The best advantages I have found is I am watering only the plants and not the whole garden, and I am putting my valuable compost right where it will do the most good. Not to mention I have very little weeding. In fact, Because the bottoms of my plants are protected by the buckets I use a small weed-eater to cut down any unwanted weeds that happen to come up.
Also I hand pollinate the plants that supply me with seed and I am able to mark the buckets holding those plants and cover them with netting to keep out unwanted pollinators easier than growing in long rows.
Debbie"
www.Garden-Baskets.com