Garden Kit (10PK) Self Watering sub-irrigated planter insert. Turn any bucket into a Self Watering Container Garden. Create an indoor or outdoor, space saving and portable garden in minutes.

This little box is deceptively full of everything you need for a fantastic growing season. I was stunned that a 10 pack took up so little space—my husband can’t complain about storage of my GroBuckets in the off season! The product is so easy to use, it’s a wonder why I wasted my time, sweat, and money making DIY self-watering buckets in the past. My husband even got involved…which is rare. This little kit is worth the money! That said, I had a small problem with my order. So, I reached out to the company on a Saturday, heard back within 24 hours, and all was made right (plus some bonus goods for my trouble) in less than 72 hours. I appreciate being able to reach a person who not only helped, but went above and beyond to fix the problem, and even sent me info about another product that would help other growing pursuits. Altogether, can’t say enough about how pleased I am with the product, the company, and the staff!!

This is my second season using GroBucket inserts and I am hooked. I'm up to 30 now for both outdoor and greenhouse use. The crops that are my favorite so far are tomatoes, peppers, and everbearing strawberries. I am a Zone 6a gardener so nothing is year-round in my unheated greenhouse, but I kept my strawberry bucket watered in the south end of the greenhouse and it gave me March berries! That was amazing and I will be doing it again this winter. You know how picky tomatoes are about staying consistently moist? I got zero cracking on any tomato. I was watering heavy, probably topping up the buckets daily in 90°+ heat, but it beat guessing. The only down side, and it is miniscule, is that the green water indicator bobber gets stuck occasionally on the housing. I give each of mine a push when I am doing my daily garden tour and it will either bob up or clunk on the bottom. No big deal. Fertilizing is easy. Add top dressing, insert sticks, or add liquid to the reservoir. My latest addition this year is a layer of tacky straw mulch and it has been a real help with evaporation and volunteer weeds. I just can't say how much I love these things. I will probably buy another 10 pack and expand again next year, that's how good and fun these things are!

These combine growing in soil with hydroponics. The amount of soil holds a plant of more size than you would think. It is in that sweet spot that is bigger than flowers but not big enough for a giant tomato. Think dwarf tomatoes, a single celery, or broccoli. You should always look for small varieties for these. I have 13 of them I have used for 2 years, and there is no loss of quality. You do have to buy buckets and you do have to drill them, so do yourself a favor and buy black ones. You drill them so the excess water doesn't kill your plant when you gets lots of rain, it's 1 overflow hole on the SIDE, that's it. It's easy to fill them, because the fill tube is plenty big enough for a hose or a watering can. The cover on the tube keeps out bugs and debris. You can add fertilizer to the water and you can add fertilizer to the soil if you prefer. I haven't found one thing not to like! My picture shows Little Bites Cherry Tomatoes on June 28, 2024. I grew them from seed from Renee's Garden. Here are the buckets I use: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C4ZYT4HL?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_3

I have bought these several times and I have bought them to give as gifts with a bucket, soil, and plant. I use them for houseplants, for outdoor settings where I need a plant in a container, and we have even used them at our garden conference for door prizes after they were used to decorate. I like using buckets for plants because of their depth. I like the little float that tells me when the water is gone in the reservoir. I have recommended the bucket and insert method for my friends with limited space. I have them on my patio. Sometimes, I decorate the bucket and sometimes I just let the bucket be a bucket.

Exactly two weeks before I needed to add water to my buckets planted with tomatoes. Which, by the way, are growing better than any tomatoes I've ever grown before. The same cannot be said for my pepper plants (bell, jalapeno, cayenne, anaheim). I'm guessing it is too moist of a soil environment for peppers to thrive but we'll see if they take off with the hot summer months coming soon. Squash is also doing very well in these buckets; at nearly 3x times the size of the same variety and germination date I have growing in my raised bed. The green level indicators are just okay. Personally, I would rather see a foam bobber on the end rather than a pocket of air that easily escapes from the trap. The visible indicator also tends to catch on the tube cover so you really do need to give them a poke rather than a trustworthy glance. But honestly this is the only complaint I have so far. It's no secret, these bucket inserts are not cheap and yes you can fabricate your own by watching some videos from the web but I don't have the patience to try and save a few bucks with a DIY system that might work. The fact that I no longer have to water planters morning and evening while swatting mosquitoes is worth every single penny spent on these. Just a little advice; add some landscaping fabric to the top of the bucket insert to prevent soil from filling the water reservoir through the drainage slots/holes. In conclusion, if you plan to grow water-loving vegetables (not peppers) then I highly suggest giving these a try. I purchased food grade buckets from a local store for $3 each and each insert is around $13. The buckets are nearly indestructible and the inserts are not flimsy so I don't expect to have to replace anything except the potting soil on a yearly basis. If like me you have had irrigation tubing lines running all over the place to each planter (insert black and white infomercial video of some hapless soccer mom tangled up and tripping to a cutaway of "all senior citizens should have life alert"), then throw them away and go with these bucket kits; you won't be disappointed. Operators are standing by. All joking aside, I love this product. Update: Entering the fall season I thought I would provide an update. The pepper plants really took off in these buckets and look better and healthier than the other plants. Squash did not fair well in these; I do not advise growing squash in buckets. Tomatoes are looking fine but as usual, I'm struggling to control late season blight so I'm taking that into account. Now for the bad news. During the hot summer month of July, my buckets needed watering 1-2 times per day. The reservoir is a neat idea but fails to deliver as promised. I suppose if you used these for shade plants, they would work very well and watering would be 1-2 times per week. The green level indicators have warped in the heat and most of them have dropped into the reservoir; a poor design and I stand by my previous comment about them. I will continue to use these next season and experiment with different things to improve the water retention. Even with a 2-3" layer of dense straw on the surface, the water retention is unreliable. The drainage hole could possible be moved up another 1" or more to increase capacity without drowning the plant roots. My overall grade after use in season 1 would be a C+ for buy if needed and with tempered expectations and I have dropped my rating from 5 stars to 3. The concept is there but they fail to deliver at the current cost. I also acknowledge that I might need to figure out what works best through trial and error.