[Grubbypaws]

I am thinking about growing cucumbers for the first time this year. My mini greenhouse gets underused once all my seeds have germinated so I was thinking of putting a grow-bag in its base and planting into it. Any recommendations as to which is the best grow-bag to buy?

[Goosegirl]

Get one that has plenty of compost in it and don't buy cheap as that is all the plant has to grow in. I don't use them but I do use those green tomato plant plant pots that have a central planting pot set in an outer watering space. You water in this area then put your feeding solution in the inner one where the plant is.

[New shoot]

I find grow-bags a pain to use and the big thick ones take up so much room.  I use cheap builders buckets with holes drilled into the base and fill them with compost.

If you would really rather use a bagged product than a pot of some sort, a small bag of compost sat on its end with some drainage holes poked in the base and slit open at the top, is much easier to keep watered.  If you go as large as a 50L bag you could put 2 plants in, 1 per bag if you go for 20L. 

[Grubbypaws]

I find grow-bags a pain to use and the big thick ones take up so much room.  I use cheap builders buckets with holes drilled into the base and fill them with compost.

Most of my growing that is not in raised beds is in buckets and bags. Just thought that I would experiment but maybe not. I have a small (very) greenhouse where I start my seeds off and a grow bag would fit neatly in the bottom. Why do you find them a pain to use?

[Hampshire Hog]

I have bought some builders buckets for this year and plan to half fill them with home made compost and top up with commercial tomato compost. If you want to stick with tomato bags one option could be to place one bag on top of another but cut to allow roots to grow down to the bottom bag. Not sure I can recommend a specific bag though as the loss of peat means all bought compost is a mystery. Good luck HH

[New shoot]

Why do you find them a pain to use?

I haven’t bought a grow-bag since everything went peat free, but given the awful nature of most peat free multi-purpose, I can’t think things have improved.

The cheap small and thin grow bags were almost impossible to keep watered properly and the compost inside was dire.

The bigger and thicker grow-bags did have better compost and more of it, but were still not easy to keep watered, even with the green tomato ring pots stuck into the tops of them.  I also found they took up a lot of room.  I could fit 2 side by side along the glass in my greenhouse.  I can fit 6 builders buckets in, the plants are more evenly spaced and I can keep them fed and watered much more effectively.  I usually put a single tomato plant into a bucket, but I have done 2 cucumbers growing up a plant support in a bucket and that worked.  The bigger grow-bags have lines on them indicating you can cut 3 holes for plants, but in reality I found that is a push and 2 plants produce more than 3 competing with each other for limited resources.

[KalisDad]

My best success was with clover 60lt salad and tomato bags, struggling to get them this year so have 3 new bags from last year and 3 peat free from this year, I'll let you know how I get on