Water and feed troughs intended for livestock are becoming a popular item for planting elevated gardens.
Norman Winter
Everyone knows the old adage: you can lead a horse to the trough, and if it isn’t drinking, make it a planter.
Just kidding, but if you go for one of the hottest trends in the country, you can make your own jokes about old Kaballo.
In the store, these containers have names such as storage container, feed trough, water trough and my choice horse trough. They may not grace the landscapes of Highland Park in Dallas or River Oaks in Houston, but they do show up in high-end malls like The Landings in Columbus, Georgia, and purpose-built communities like Old Town in North Columbus.
If you search for trough gardeners online, you will find this trend is flaring up across the country. When I was younger I had a nice Grumman canoe. I know they were heavy in the aerospace and shipbuilding industries, and if they are still in operation I would tell them, pick up some dazzling troughs for all of us gardeners, these will be hard to find on the street.
First, you know that there is a trough that you can grow almost anything you want to grow. You could have an exotic water feature, flower garden, or several for a luxurious raised bed vegetable garden. The 36 inch high containers are ideal for those who use wheelchairs and motorized aids or who have trouble bending over. In other words, these can become vegetable or flower gardens for all abilities.
You can find lots of instructions on how to set it up. Without denigrating any of their suggestions, I’m just telling you how it is done in my town by my son James. The oldest troughs in Columbus are around 10 years old and retain their integrity. After all, it is galvanized steel.
These were originally attached to wooden piano trolleys with wheels or rollers. These worsened over time and the containers are now moved with muscle power when necessary. Some of the new containers at other locations have wheels; others don’t.
A third of the containers are filled with aged or even composted pine bark, the rest is made of potting soil. The containers have drain plug holes that are similar to what you might see on an ice box.
You will see on the internet, however, they have become works of art by many home gardeners.
In Columbus, a cool planting season is planned from autumn to April and a redesign of the warm season from late April to early October. In a commercial setting, they are first planted with a controlled release fertilizer and then watered as needed from a 250 gallon tank with dilute water soluble fertilizer over the seasons.
Today The Landings, located between a favorite restaurant and a frozen yogurt shop, is a playground for the customer’s children. It is adorned with an iconic lime green picket fence. Here are the oldest troughs of plants like Truffula Pink Gomphrena, Rockin Blue Suede Shoes Salvia, Luscious Royale Cosmo lantana, and Supertunia Vista Fuchsia and Supertunia Vista Snowdrift falling over the edge. You see, while customers think they are seeing flowers, what they are really seeing is a mall habitat that attracts bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and little green lizards.
If you’re looking for a new adventure in gardening, you might just want to consider a trough. You may find that you have an award-winning green thumb.
