Have you ever heard of global buckets? I hadn’t, until I was at an event at the Area, a great new community space in Inglewood. While a band played, and a campfire crackled, a friend took me over to a line of buckets, out of which grew various veggies. The neat thing about global buckets is that they require very little water, because they are irrigated from the bottom (less evaporation), and they are all connected with a tube, so all you have to do is water one bucket, and atmospheric pressure will ensure every bucket (and every plant) has water.

Check out the website by the two teenagers who thought up the idea, as a way to grow food cheaply and anywhere.

This Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Robert McWilliam, a local permaculture enthusiast will be hosting a free workshop on building Global Buckets at the Old Y Community Centre. Check it out, meet some new friends and enjoy the Old Y’s new backyard patio and garden! Email philip_mcc@hotmail.com for more details.

Learn how to garden affordably and using containers with these books:

The Small Budget Gardener: All the Dirt on Saving Money in Your Garden by Maureen Gilmer

Garden Anywhere: How to Grow Gorgeous Container Gardens, Herb Gardens, Kitchen Gardens, and more – Without Spending a Fortune by Alys Fowler

Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers by Edward C. Smith