Posts Tagged ‘gardening’


Nothing but a Barrel

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

A few years ago, when we set out to get involved in making Rain Barrels and selling other Home and Garden products at Metro-Detroit Green Fairs, we never thought it would turn out so incredibly well. The community involvement with green fairs, charities, school and churches has helped shape our business, continuing over a hundred years of Rubin family involvement in the drum and barrel industry. Now, at Maxi, as the summer comes to a close, so does a chapter of our lives. The Green season is over, there no more events until next Spring/Summer. We all set our sights on the numerous things we have neglected due to the hustle and bustle of the season. We won’t be hibernating this winter, but a part of us will. The Green part.

I thoroughly enjoyed all of the events we were involved in (a list is provided at the end of this post). However, certain moments, or days, stand out when looking back from the corner of the autumn and winter seasons. I want to share my favorite “highlights” from this summer with all of you.

Two tents down! Currently, both of our tents need repair. One, we have no idea what happened to, and the other a storm almost swept away! At the St. Clair Shores Green Fair in the Park it was a beautiful day until warnings of a oncoming storm started to spread across the fair (since the Dream Cruise was happening on Woodward Ave. simultaneously, we just checked their twitter feed) Even though the vendors and patrons were advised to leave a little early in hopes of missing the brunt of the storm, we were among the last out of there, and our tent nearly didn’t make it out at all. I went to grab the truck for our final load of Rain Barrels, and when I arrived to our location I find my father (Richard) holding onto a tent that was in shambles. He looked like he was holding onto it for dear life, in high winds and heavy rain. This was a very intense end to a great event.

HOT, HOT, HOT! All of you remember that heat wave in June? Well we can’t forget it. We had three events planned almost simultaneously for that weekend of heat. Friday I spent in Armada while the rest of the Maxi staff was at the Ferndale Live Green Fair. I guess this is one time I lucked out, since at the Lavender Festival in Armada we had a location in the shade and the fair was on grass, not pavement. The staff at the Live Green Fair said it was sweltering hot as the intense sun reflected up from the ground. Also, the way the booths were set up didn’t allow a lot of airflow. On Sunday, I made my way to Ferndale, my father and I did the best we could, but I was definitely suffering during tear down, and was afraid I was going to pass out. My Dad had to stick me in the car with the AC on to get me to stop acting loopy. I am pretty sure I was a second away from heat stroke.

We enjoyed all of the events this year, these two weekends were exceptionally interesting, check out the list below for all of our events this year, and watch out for even more next year! Hope to see you next summer at some of our Green Events!

I tried to remember them all and hopefully, got them all of them here. Click on each to learn more. This list doesn’t include all of the Rain Barrel workshops we have done, just a few of them.

If you know of an event in Metro-Detroit (really anywhere in Michigan) that you would like us to bring our sustainable living setup including Rain Barrels, Composting, and Container Gardening, please let us know. Drop me an email at joshua@maxicontianer.com with the details.

Enjoy this slideshow of photos from our “Green Fairs” Collection of photoset’s on Flickr!

[slickr-flickr tag=”GreenFairs” type=”slideshow” captions=”on” delay=”3″]


The life of a container Gardener

Thursday, August 18th, 2011

Living in an apartment and condo does NOT mean you can’t garden. And people, I’m not talking about one or two hanging plants. I am talking about really gardening… fruits, veggies, flowers, and herbs. Right now I have tomatoes, potatoes, onions, corn, jalapeno and cayenne peppers, plus a herb garden and a few flowers for accent, all on my patio. You must be wondering just how I fit all that on my small 5′ x 10′ patio? Well let’s just say, very creatively. By utilizing hanging hooks on stands that fit four pails each, and two half pallets (I sawed one in half basically), I can make a varying array of configurations that are both beautiful and at the same time add a sense of privacy to our patio.

Another benefit of my container garden is the family activity it creates. My fifteen month old daughter grabs my hand and begs to be a part of the gardening experience. I supply her with her own little watering can and a plastic spade shovel to dig in the dirt with me. This is a family garden. It has become a central part of our family life. Whether it is the wife and I relaxing after the baby has gone to sleep, or working together to harvest some basil to make pesto for dinner, it is enjoyable and bring us even closer together. If you live in a apartment or condo and think that gardening is just too much to handle, reconsider. Give it try. We have previously used food grade 5-gallon pails perfect for starting your very own garden. Please email me at joshua@maxicontainer.com for a free consultation. We can design your pails to fit the types of plants you want to grow. We have three styles right now for our 5-gallon pails, they are:

  1. Traditional planter
  2. Hanging tomato planter
  3. Pepper / strawberry planter (Can hold up to 6 plants)
    *can easily be made into a self-watering planter

We also have experimented with our 30-gallon plastic barrels, turning one into a strawberry planter. We cut a plastic juice drum in half, attached wheels and handles to make a movable planter perfect for all types of plants. Like I was saying before, the possibilities with container gardening are endless. You only will be limited by your own creativity. So, what are your waiting for? Try it now. Give us a call today and get the low-down on what you’ll need to get started. And please, if you don’t get your container from us just make sure the containers are food-grade. Ask what the previous contents where. If it was something questionable, DO NOT USE IT. If it had food in it before, then its fine. It’s better to ask then to just say “ohhh it’s fine because it was free.” You will be growing and eating food from that container. Plastic absorbs some of its previous contents; there is no way around that, it is in the material’s nature. So any reconditioned or used plastic barrel, is not always safe for growing plants. Hope this information helps get you started container gardening. Here is some photos from our Flickr photoset “Container Gardening”.

[slickr-flickr search=”sets” set=”72157627032002916″ items=”20″ type=”slideshow” delay=”3″ captions=”on”]


Aquaponics? 275-Gallon IBC’s are Perfect for Sustainable Organic Gardening Method

Monday, March 28th, 2011

Aquaponics is one of the most sustainable forms of organic gardening, by utilizing fish and the bacteria they create. This video shows you how to turn a 275-Gallon Tote into a Basic Aquaponics System. Perfect for someone looking to grow organic healthy fruits and vegetables easily at home, in the backyard (or driveway as seen in the video) without any high-tech or large ticket items. Maxi sells used totes that are perfect for starting your own Aquaponics system.


Limited Space? Still Want to Garden? Try Container Gardening!

Monday, February 21st, 2011

This video shows an example of what you can do with our 5 gallon pails. Limited on space or have poor soil quality, container gardening is your answer. There are many ways to customize you garden while saving space using containers. Give us a call toll free 1-800-727-MAXI (6294) and talk to one of our customer service representatives today to help find the container that is right for your gardening needs.


Have you ever thought of conta…

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

Have you ever thought of container gardening? check it out: http://t.co/lA3fAdT Maxi sells a variety of containers suitable for this!