Mostly, it's my weeding companion. I set a small tub down beside me and drop the weeds straight in as I go — no little piles left to scatter, no trudging back and forth. I don't put weeds on the compost (I'd rather not invite them back), so when the tub's full I tip it into a bigger one and carry the lot home to the bin. It sounds like nothing, but having somewhere to put the weeds is the difference between a tidy hour and a frustrating one.
After that, it's the hundred other jobs. A tub shifts woodchip from the donated pile down to the beds, moves a load of soil, carries seedlings out to plant. You name it, a tub will do it — and it flexes and folds away against the shed when it's done.
Keep a couple of small tubs at the plot, not at home. There's nothing more annoying than starting to weed and having nowhere to put them. The small ones are perfect for moving along a row beside you; when one's full, tip it into a big one to bring home. A little fleet of them, big and small, is the trick.
Red Gorilla flexible tub — small (14L)
The small tub is the weeding companion — light enough to nudge along the row beside you, easy to tip into a bigger one when it's full. I'd keep two of these at the plot.
The one I reach for most — keep a couple at the plot.
Red Gorilla flexible tub — large (38L)
The big tub is the workhorse: woodchip, soil, a full load of weeds for the bin. Flexible, frost-proof, and it lasts for years — two strong handles make a heavy load far easier than a rigid bucket.
View on AmazonAnd then, the trug
A trug is a different thing altogether — not for hauling, but for gathering. The traditional wooden veg trug is the one for the harvest: beans and courgettes and the first tomatoes, carried up the path of an evening. There's something very Beatrix Potter about a trug full of veg, and I won't apologise for it.
Burgon & Ball traditional wooden trug
A proper, lightweight wooden trug for bringing the harvest in. Beautifully made, and it only looks lovelier as it weathers. Not a workhorse like the tubs — this one's purely for the nicest job on the plot.
Purely for gathering — the nicest job there is.
Tubs for the graft, a trug for the gathering. Neither is glamorous or dear, and between them they'll see you through almost everything a plot asks of you.
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