Not up to a big garden this year? I am going to show you how to garden in 5-gallon containers this summer and end up with a bucket load of fresh, tasty food.

5 Easy Steps to a Bucket Garden:

Materials list: a five gallon bucket, a bag of potting soil, a tomato plant.

Helpful Additions: a saucer to catch run off, a tomato cage or stake, additional herbs or flower seed.

1. Locate one or two 5-gallon plastic buckets. I see them most often labeled as paint buckets or pickle buckets. I got mine for free at the coffee shop filled with coffee grounds.

5-gallon plastic buckets may be free from your favorite fast food, coffee shop, drive thru or carry out. Or, buy them at the hardware store or big box store (like Loews or Ace Hardware).

2. Buy a bag of potting soil. Buy the self fertilizing type and you don't need to buy fertilizer. Buy the kind with water retaining crystals to increase the water holding capacity of the soil. I recommend that you use potting soil rather than garden soil because it is lighter and weed seed free.

3. Poke 3 or 4 holes in the bottom of the bucket. A drill or a screwdriver will do the trick. This is for drainage. Keep this in mind when placing your tomato, it is going to drain and run out the bottom when you water.

4. Place a sheet of torn up or shredded newspaper in the bottom of the bucket to catch the soil from running out when you water. Fill the bucket with potting soil, leaving two inches of empty space at the top of the bucket. Moisten the soil.

5. Remove all side stems, leaving only the top two or three inches of the plant with leaves. Plant your tomato as deep as possible. This will develop a strong, healthy root system for the plant. Water well. Place the tomato bucket where it will get the most sun every day.

While you wait for the weather to warm up and your little plant to grow, consider using the bare soil for growing lettuce and radishes. By the time the tomato needs all the space, the salad greens and radishes will be harvested.

You can add a basil plant when your plant your tomato. Just remember that you will have two plants competing for the same soil nutrients and water.

Consider adding an inexpensive tomato cage, or a couple of 1x1 or 1 x 2 stakes for plant support. This should be done early, preferably when you plant the tomato plant.

DO NOT overfeed your bucket garden. Too much fertilizer will encourage lots of plant and leaf production at the expense of fruit production. Fertilizer can burn the plant.

DO NOT over water or skip adding the drainage holes. Tomatoes roots will rot if left in standing water.

First published in Active Aging, April 2012