[swsieber]

Well, I hope this one doesn't. Something on my bucket list (no pun intended), is to do something like this on a scale of 10-20 units (buckets?), except maybe in cubes with better climate control with a rolling schedule for a variety of veggies - fresh veggies year round, yum.

Quick example - lettuce can go from planting to harvest in roughly 7-8 weeks. So 7-8 buckets could provide you with fresh lettuce every week.

Edit: Apparently it's possible to manipulate the light cycles to get lettuce to mature in just 22 days! That's only 3-4 buckets :)

[VLM]

I've done this with bell peppers and its a lot of fun. Ask your local deli or bakery for free food grade five gallon buckets. Mine smelled like frosting which was not necessarily a problem. You probably don't want to reuse a bucket that held paint thinner or weed killer in its previous life.

Peppers not being illegal, I didn't need all the indoor lighting or air filters or automation, I just grew them outside in the back yard where anyone could see them.

One year I tried drip irrigation mostly to discover I need to weed and harvest daily and automatic watering means I'd skip that to my detriment also rodents like the taste of drip irrigation tube, the effort to keep it running exceeded the effort saved over simply hand watering.

You can buy "container gardening dirt" that contains weird mysterious substances that hold water so you supposedly don't have to water as often, I found they grow a crop of mold and moss which lowers or eliminates production. Of course if you live in a desert maybe humidity isn't a problem.

It is not rocket surgery for even a noob wood-butcher to turn some 8 foot long cedar planks and some posts into attractive looking planters holding IIRC 7 buckets per planter with plenty of drainage. Cheaper wood is too expensive to use because it rots quickly. My cedar planters are like a decade old and still look new(ish).

The problem with indoor lighting is I ran the numbers on an "Aerogarden" product and it works financially for basil (and apparently weed) but not crops like lettuce. The problem then becomes what do I do with an infinite supply of normally expensive fresh basil? Its possible to get tired of pesto although initially it sounds impossible.

[Cerium]

Even for things like basil, I don't want to break even, I want to feel like my work was worth something.

I live in a townhouse and have a very small garden, about a 3x9 foot patch. I grew about a 3x3 area of basil and was able to make enough pesto for about 15 meals thoughout the summer, since I usually pay about $3 per bundle of basil I felt I got about $45 out of my basil patch. Of that $45, I spent $3 on basil seeds, and probably another couple dollars on fertilizer. Of course, there is additional value in having fresh basil on demand.

By the way, basil can root from cuttings purchased at the grocery store. Its easier and more effective to just buy seeds, but some people have trouble with them. I put some store bought basil in water and it rooted just fine, then continued to grow into a nice plant.

[goda90]

How many plants could you fit in a bucket? Perhaps you put 3-4 different herbs in each bucket, so you have a good chance of using something in your cooking before having to replant the bucket.