Here’s the thing about container gardening: You have to have containers.
Luckily, when I least expected it, an opportunity arose to drive to East Oakland and acquire a pair of half wine barrels. I pulled into a dead-end street just after dark next to two stacks of the barrels and, as a BART train roared overhead on a track, handed over $40 in cash to a friend of a friend.
“These smell amazing,” I said, breathing in the deep, winey fragrance.
“They were just used this past season,” he said. This is a guy who knows how to find things: chanterelles in the Oakland hills, locations for underground dining events, and, in this case, enough recently-drained half-barrels of wine to distribute them throughout an entire community of horticulturists in the East Bay.
“I had 70 here yesterday,” he said. There were 10 left after we loaded my pair into the back seat of my car.
“They fit perfectly,” I said. “They look like a pair of kids back there.”
Off I drove, back up onto 880 and off into the night, keeping a careful eye out for cops. After all, when the entire inside of one’s car smells like a winery, one should attempt not to get pulled over, even if one has not had a single drop to drink.
on Feb 13th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Great find! And at $40 for a pair, that’s a steal, really. Glad you did not get pulled over afterward. :)
on Feb 13th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Would love assistance in making this connection. We are in the East Bay and desperate for wine barrels for gardening! I could not believe that the date stamp on this post was yesterday!
on Feb 15th, 2010 at 1:02 am
In case these are gone, Berkeley Hort in North Berkeley also sells them for about the same price (or used to!) Occasionally you can also find postings from some of the vineyards on Craigslist—when we needed full barrels for rain barrels, a guy drove them down to us, which was an incredible deal. So they’re definitely out there!
on Feb 15th, 2010 at 5:47 am
I’ve a fondness for wine barrels. An ancient, rotting wine barrel was the first container I planted seeds in. Thanks for bringing on that memory!
on Feb 15th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
Neat! Great story.
on Feb 16th, 2010 at 11:49 am
Meredith, yeah…me too!
Annabelle, send me an email ( genie (at) theinadvertentgardener (dot) com ) and I’ll try to put you in touch with the guy who sold me mine for a future delivery.
Artemis, thanks for sharing those resource ideas, too — good stuff!
Kate, that’s so cool. These aren’t ancient nor rotting, but will be perfect for what I need.
Al_Pal, thanks!
on Feb 17th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
http://spackleshot.blogspot.com/2010/02/sometimes-i-find-myself-commenting-on.html
on Feb 17th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Kitty Joe, so funny — thanks!
on Apr 4th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
[...] the thing about wine barrels. Even when they’re empty (and oh, how sad that they were empty…), they are quite awkward and [...]
on Apr 17th, 2010 at 5:46 am
[...] those wine half-barrels I picked up in February? I happen to know that my source has them available again at the low, low [...]
on May 26th, 2010 at 8:18 am
are those wine barrels still available? late to the dance:-)
on Jun 1st, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Peter, I’d be happy to check, if you’d like.
on Jun 1st, 2010 at 6:41 pm
[...] risk was there. For about a week, the wine barrels hung in the balance. I had been told to have them removed (and let me tell you how thankful, right [...]
on Mar 22nd, 2011 at 3:39 pm
it’s year later. I just purchased a very windy smelling barrel. Did you have any issues with growing your plants? any suggestions?
on May 1st, 2011 at 11:57 am
Leslie, I didn’t have any issues — I think the smell will fade for you over time. The smell of dirt overtakes it pretty quickly!