Budget veg containers

[TiddleTaddleTat]

We have a patch of concrete in our garden about 4 x 4m with a fence on one side. It is south/east facing so gets sun most of the day and plenty in the morning. Some of it is shaded by the fence.
Have a bunch of ideas of veg to grow and have started some seedlings in the conservatory.
Really I'm after really budget ideas for containers for these veg - potatoes, salad stuff, spinach, chard, herbs, strawberries, courgettes...
Years ago I used rubble sacks for potatoes but I worry a bit about the plastic leeching into the soil?
Building something in wood is an option but when I priced up cost of materials it was prohibitive ! Well, £30 for pressure treated wood for a 90x60x45 planter.
Any cheap ideas? I'll also need to buy compost...
Budget is like £50 all in!

Correction, it's more like 2.5 x 4m. Still plenty big enough tho!

I use big square pots about 18inches square and nearer 2 ft high, but that's expensive.

Otherwise I have various plastic containers that used to have something else in, the collection bucket of a large now defunct industrial vacuum cleaner (rather useful as it has wheels), and the drum from a dead washing machine. It's a matter of keeping your eyes open for what people might be throwing away.

Old tyres can be used, either simply stacked, or a one time there was a fad for turning them inside out into a sort of urn shape. Your local tyre repair shop might oblige - they have to pay to get rid of them.

Alternatively, black plastic builders buckets- 0.97 at B&Q, £1.29 at Screwfix.

Most of these will need drainage holes making in the bottom.

Thanks, I will keep an eye out .
Wickes do a 14l black bucket, I thought these could be good for tomatoes , not sure what else though?
Gardening gets so pricey, I really don't want to spend more on the pot than I would be in the veg if I bought them (even though home grown will taste so much better I'm sure!)

14l Black bucket is not quite as big as the pots I use, it's as if the square corners have been cut off to make a circle. In mine I grow runner beans, broad beans, climbing french beans (4 per pot), sugarsnap peas (possibly 8 per pot) cabbagey things (1 per pot), radishes (1 inch spacing), lettuces, beet, swiss chard (about 6 inches spacing), strawberries.

Tomatoes are OK in a slightly smaller pot, I use pots about 9 in dia which is what? 9l?

Cucumbers would be OK, 1 per pot.

It's too small for courgettes and squashes.

In theory it'd be OK for a couple of raspberry canes or a fig.

The advantage over a raised bed is that you can move pots around, so you can start things off indoors and move them into place once they got past the slug-prone stage. Really useful for me as I can start everything in the greenhouse. If you haven't a lot of space, herbs are a good thing to grow (fresh herbs are expensive to buy). Most won't need as deep a pot, or you could keep a bay tree in one pot (they grow easily from cuttings if you know anyone with a decent sized bay tree).

Concentrate on growing things that you can't get in the shops or which are really expensive - potatoes are fun but they're hardly going to reduce your veg bill, strawberries or sugar snap peas on the other hand give you a treat that you might not otherwise buy. And remember you can re-use the pots year after year, it's an expense in this year only.

That's really helpful, thank you!
Where did you get the pots you use ? It is something we want to have in place for a while so could be worth it for us

I invested in a load of Aldi huge planter things which were £5 ish each. They've paid for themselves many times over now. Perhaps build a collection of pots, throw a couple in with the weekly shop regularly so you don't feel the financial strain all in one hit?

Where did you get the pots you use Our local garden centre. They were expensive, about £20 each. Probably something like this at £12 on ebay
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/43-Litre-Black-Bronze-Large-Plant-Pot-Square-Tall-Plastic-Planter-Outdoor-Garden/253351627984?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D226064%26meid%3D23abea16339840a9af9917877b11a68a%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D254369191027%26itm%3D253351627984%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWeb&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

The volume is considerably greater than a builders bucket, I hadn't realised. So if you went the builders bucket route you'd need to scale down the no of plants a bit. I like the square shape because they ack together neatly and the area looks attractive.

Actually I can't believe I spent as much as £20 on mine. I'm usually pretty stingy, It probably was nearer £9, but it was 10 years ago.

They look great, thanks for the link.

Morrisons do flower buckets think 10 for 99p. Usually at flower display, just need to drill holes in them.

I wouldn't grow things you'll eat in old tyres. Think of where they've been until repurposed!

I've heard about these Morrison's flower buckets! But don't know if they would be big enough for many veg?

Thanks for this, I'm in the same position!

Just for ideas, I've got washing powder tubs, tin cans (I've got small on a fence but the big coffee ones too)ice cream tubs, an old unused oil drip tray, washing up bowl, colander, a very very old massive aluminium pan,
An old watering can that split, I just tied twine around it hundreds of times.
I wanted to use the old bath from the refurb, but it was far too heavy.

I wouldn't grow things you'll eat in old tyres. Think of where they've been until repurposed! It wouldn't worry me. Firstly you're adding soil so the plants aren't in direct contact, secondly you've got all the processing that the plant does. After all no-one worries about using horse manure.

It's not something I've dreamt up by myself, it's long been an established use, advocated by Bob Flowerdew amongst others.

Morrisons flower buckets - OK for tomatoes, lettuces etc. I'd have thought they'd be too small for runner beans.

I grow flowers in my house. When it's warm outside I take flowers in pots outside and put them outside the house. I choose online flower pots getpotted.com/. You can look at the site the selection of pots there is great. Often there are discounts.

I sometimes use a grow bag ( our local coop has them for £2.50 each today may get the cheaper elsewhere) for 2 courgette plants.

Start off small and add when you can, buckets, plastic paint and feed tubs and I use the vista planters from [https://www.plasticboxshop.co.uk/home-storage-c1/garden-and-outdoor-plastics-c6/plastic-garden-pots-and-plastic-saucers-c59 The Plastic Box Shop] which are part recycled. Do remember to drill drainage holes first if they don't have any - start the hole with a punch or bradawl so the plastic doesn't crack.

I believe that what you should spend money on is good quality compost, and add some continous release fertiliser pellets - Aldi do them in their garden range and miracle grow do them too - these will last through the growing season. There are organic options available too.

Thanks @lilyred I'm leaning towards something like those Vista pots - saw similar at the Range online but will go with the recycled option.
I've heard wickes multipurpose is very good.
Looking for delivery.
Good tip about the slow release fertiliser.
I had been wondering about building some large beds - this would give us masses of growing space. But when I priced up the wood for 3 beds - 90cm, 60cm and 50cm the materials came to £100, before compost (would need about 400L) so might be a job to postpone until end of the season ready for next year.
I'm also not 100% confident on the way the light moves yet (new garden to us) so the advantage of smaller pots is being able to move them if needed.

We've just built potato buckets out of some old chicken wire, put straw around the outside and filled with garden mud. Most of our ceramic pots are from the local tip, who sell on usable bits but I'm sure if you put a message on Facebook selling pages, people will have spare. Selling pages are also a great place to sell/swap/buy excess saplings. Upended pallets make good salad planters and are good for growing beans up.

I also have a great book by James Wong on growing for flavour. He says to use garden mud where possible as it's rich in nutrients and free and by the time you've paid for a decent compost and fertiliser, then you might as well just buy the veg.

Do you mean garden mud instead of compost for potatoes?
I do have a sack full of garden soil that I excavated, it's very sticky heavy clay,. I suppose mixed with straw it could make a decent structure.
Wasn't going to grow potatoes for that reason - plentiful and keep well . Am aiming towards tender crops that are more expensive to buy fresh - beans, salad, tomatoes, berries, herbs

You can use half the bag of compost in a container, then roll the sides of the bag down and use the bag itself as the container for the other half of the compost.

Personally? I'd prep the soil and I would save up for the wood this year and grow salads, chillies, tomatoes, fruit bushes and your veg in tubs. Herbs love pots as the soil is warmer. Don't bother too much with lots of potatoes until you have beds - unless you use them as below.

I'm sure James Wong has access to some lovely nursery topsoil available as his topsoil - not heavy clay - heavy clay on it's own does not contain much in the way of nutrients and will get very waterlogged very quickly ... Lovely topsoil that is not full of weed seeds ... if you are new to gardening it can be hard to tell the difference from your plants with disastrous results.

Once you know where you want the beds, dig in lots of compost and well-rotted manure to the soil and cover with old carpets/ weighted tarp etc - not pretty but it will supress weed growth. You can also grow green manures on this - or even potatoes as they will help break up the soil! I know I sound like an old gardening book, but this really works We grew veg at home when I was growing up and I started in the 80s as soon as I got a garden - I now grow in tubs and amongst the flower beds as I currently live in scotland with a quagmire garden and the family are all grown .

You can get a compass app on your phone, so aim for south-east, south or southwest as the best direction to site your beds - and check for shade.

Last year I gre tomatoes and strawberries veru successfully in builder's bags(you know the one they ude to deliver large amount of materials). Ask for them on freegle, and you have some large containers for free!

I also grew all my potatoes on ikea bags. Really cheap! It would probably also work for carrots.